Reviews by RadioactiveCrow
15-30 minutes
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Are you playing a parser game, or are you the parser?, October 3, 2021So what can you say about this game? I'm not sure. It is the second year in a row that the author has entered IFComp with a weird game that has almost no story, but rather is filled with a handful of little word or logic puzzles. I didn't really care for last year's game either, but I thought at least there was a really clever mechanic in the "boss fight" scene. With this game though I couldn't find much to appreciate.
The scene is straight-forward, you are have handcuffed your own hands behind your back in a flubbed attempt at practicing a magic trick and now you have no way to get free. However, you borrowed a gadget from a friend recently that might help: the eponymous egg. You can give it one word voice commands and it can perform a wide variety of tasks. Imagine Alexa, but with mechanical arms, drones and robots to carry out your wishes. The catch is that it was jostled in transit recently and so not all functions are available to it.
So is this a game where instead of commanding the egg to pick the lock of your handcuffs? Sadly, no. Instead it is a game of waiting for the egg to repair itself until the LOCKPICK function becomes available. In the meantime the egg throws verbs at you (functions that have been restored) which you can then parrot back to see egg perform a number or random, sometimes goofy, tasks. So like I said in the title, this isn't a parser game in the sense that you tell the game verb and noun combinations (all your commands are a single word), rather the egg gives you suggestions and then you are the one stepping to. It is either that or typing "z" repeatedly while waiting for the endgame. Along the way there are a few very simple puzzles to complete, but nothing challenging or enjoyable.
So I just don't get this game. I'd love to hear from someone else who has a better experience as to what you liked about it.
Experimental narrative structure that I hope to see more of in the future, October 15, 2020This is fairly short, choice-based game that takes place over the course of about a week... all at the same time! The core mechanic of this game is that frequently a choice you make will cause the story to jump from Monday to Wednesday to Saturday and back. Think of it more as remembering the week rather than living it. At some of the pivotal moments in remembering events on Monday or Wednesday, you jump to seeing how the consequences of those choices played out on Wednesday or Saturday, respectively. Then occasionally, you will fall back down the time ladder to an earlier day, usually to remember a scene that informs why the main character is feeling the way she does now. I know my last couple sentences make it sound like Primer, but it is much easier to follow than that, and the weaving in and out of the various days helps you appreciate the developments of the story in a unique way.
However, because of the weaving timeline, and the fact that the story jumps right into it without a lot of context, understanding what is going on, especially early, is one of the weaker points of this game. That said, I think I was fully up to speed by the end and it helped me to appreciate the earlier parts better. Plus, I think the point of this game is more the experimentation than telling a clean story, and I love this concept. Hope to see more narratives like this in the future.
Prototype for an educational game, no real story, October 13, 2020This seems more like a proof-of-concept for an educational game. As far as I got there wasn't really a story. Your choices consisted of whether or not to use electricity (a precious commodity living in a van with solar panels) to do things like make coffee, or wash dishes with hot water. Then you had to answer math questions regarding how much power it would take to run the selected appliance.
Again, this seems like it was specifically built for an electrical engineering class. Since I'm not an engineer I didn't really have any clue what I was doing and the game didn't educate you at all that I saw. This would be more like the final test after the lessons.
Could be a lot of fun if you are in to the subject matter, but didn't really do it for me.
A modern day protest song, in IF form, October 4, 2020I've always thought that politics transmits better through art than through screaming or Twitter fights. I believe that is what the author is trying to do here. As I'm writing this review "Fortunate Son" by CCR is playing in the back of my brain.
This is a game where you are given the same choice (mostly) several times during the story: Stand Up or Stay Silent. You play someone thrust into the middle of a revolution, whether you like it or not, and the time has come to make your choice.
One of my complaints about the game is that you are given no context or information about the cultural pivot point that your society is in at the beginning of the game, so that you really have no idea how to make that first choice. Rather, it starts out feeling like a completely different type of story. I recommend playing through it several times, since after your first playthrough you have more context to better explore your options. There are multiple endings so you can try to navigate your way to each one.
Also, the sci-fi setting sometimes gets in the way. I understand why the author made that choice, but I think given the purpose of this piece that some of the details could be left on the cutting room floor so as not to distract from the ultimate point.
Funny story with clever interface, November 9, 2018I enjoyed playing through this one. It is mostly story with only a very small amount of puzzle to it. I thought the interface was very clever (you basically play a parser-based game with a limited verb set by clicking on buttons, no keyboard needed), especially how it evolves over the course of the game. Most of the enjoyment comes from the dialogue that continues as you move around the map. There were a few moments I didn't like, such as (Spoiler - click to show) the info dump when you first meet the doctor and the way the game ends so abruptly (at least that's what it felt like to me) . Overall a fun game with a clever interface that only takes 30-45 minutes to play through, but nothing spectacular.
Solid beginning effort in a superhero series, October 22, 2018Very solid, if short, opening chapter to a series in which you play the sister in a brother and sister superhero team. This game is mostly about introducing the story and getting used to the mechanics. I found it all very easy to grasp despite using some new verbs relating to the super powers that I hadn't used in other games. Looking forward to playing the other games in the series.
Not really a game, more a short story with minor interactivity, October 19, 2018A somewhat interesting, if fairly cliched, short story in a barely interactive shell. Many of the choices aren't really choices, just ways to expand the text. Also, the setting is totally unnecessary. It doesn't need to have a magical setting, seeing words like MagiCorp (or whatever it was) thrown in there to explain away things that don't need explaining away was just distracting.
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