Ratings and Reviews by spinnerin

spinnerin's Rating:

spinnerin's Rating:

spinnerin's Rating:

spinnerin's Rating:

Engaging and well-written, March 11, 2011

This is a great example of IF that really focuses on the fiction--worldbuilding, characters, story--within the interactive setting. Well worth the hours I spent playing and exploring it.

My only regrets are minor quibbles: I liked the dialogue system, and the tools to help the player poke around different topics and dig for information, but it felt awkward that there was no way to say goodbye or thank you within such an otherwise polished system. That left me feeling like the PC was being a jerk more often than might have been intended.

The other one is that the endgame seemed rushed, but this is a problem for many of my favorite stories. Just remember to save when it seems like you're getting to the end: there's more than one outcome possible, and it could be frustrating to have to replay a large section of the game.

spinnerin's Rating:

Just get to the part where I go insane already, March 9, 2011

I really wanted to like this, because I’m a Lovecraft fan and it's highly rated on IFDB. Alas, I had multiple “throw the book across the room” moments within the first hour. The game map is wide open at the start, so if you’re not clear on what it expects you to do, you can wander off and completely screw up your ability to continue.

On round 2 (after restarting), I wandered until I found the PC’s husband, attempted to talk to him to figure out what I should be doing, and wound up so frustrated I wanted to punch him (the game insisted that was out of character). The parser interaction is not very polished--I kept having to try different approaches for what seemed like basic actions.

Eventually I consulted the walkthrough, which told me my first move was to do something that seemed entirely out of character for someone who is dressed in “a tasteful ensemble from Ann Taylor”. So I yelled at the game for a few more minutes, then quit.

Love, March 8, 2011

This is my favorite game in a while. It’s funny, well-written, and the perfect size and scope for a text adventure. Everything you do enhances the story, instead of only helping to solve the game puzzle. Well done.

Dysfunctional relationships ahoy!, March 8, 2011

This is a game where you’re trying to work on your dissertation, but distractions keep getting in the way. Violet is the girlfriend who is going to leave you if you don’t get the writing done.

There were many things I liked about the game, but the pieces were better than the whole. I got frustrated several times when the game told me I couldn’t resolve a puzzle a certain way because Violet didn’t approve. In the end I wanted to give up on the PhD, dump Violet, and go play in the park with the zombies and mole men.

Good intro to IF mechanics, vague story, March 8, 2011

I decided to play this because it was rated newbie-friendly, and I’d agree with that assessment. The hint system was very helpful, especially when the descriptions of things and the PC's flashbacks were confusing. I didn’t find the story very engaging, but the gameplay was fine, and after getting through a couple of puzzles I was interested enough to finish.