Undo - Details

Undo
by Neil deMause

Surreal
1995

Return to the game's main page

Member Reviews

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

Average Rating:

Number of Reviews: 5
Write a review

1-5 of 5

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Interesting ideas, poorly executed, November 17, 2016

by Tracy Poff (Hamlin, West Virginia, United States)
Related reviews: IF Competition 1995

The game is very brief--I spent about ten minutes beating it, exploring everything as thoroughly as possible--but it has a few entertaining bits. For example, if you check your inventory, you're told that "You have everything that you need.", and in the Binary Room you can take 0 (or take nothing) and your inventory will change to "You have nothing." If you take other objects, e.g. take 1, then "You have nothing and a 1." You can drop nothing and then "You have a 1 and everything that you need." Inspired by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, if I'm not mistaken, quite appropriate for a piece of IF which is about a piece of IF.

The game's solution more or less makes sense, though you're more likely to stumble across it than to reason it out. I've written some invisiclues-style hints for the game, if you're stuck.

Undo has a few neat ideas and an interesting premise, but it doesn't really do anything with them, and feels more like Speed-IF than a real game. It can safely remain a relic of the past.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote

Flag as inappropriate

Direct link

View my user filters

Explain these options

| Add a comment

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A small absurdity from the first IFComp, February 4, 2016

by MathBrush

This is a brief, 5 room game with purposely minimal implementation.You find things like pits of binary numbers, syntax errors, and self referential rooms.

The puzzles are ridiculous, but there's so few items, you can just try everything. The solution to the main puzzle is based off a joke that the author used to tell to their friend.

Many people like this game, including me, because it's absurd and silly but has logical puzzles.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote

Flag as inappropriate

Direct link

View my user filters

Explain these options

| Add a comment

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

An historical curiosity for the historically curious., December 27, 2012

by OtisTDog

Baf's guide says this piece "has been called an anti-game." I'm willing to bet it's been called a lot worse.

With thorough exploration, when armed with some knowledge of IF programming and history, this work can be appreciated for some of the nuances of coding and genre that it subverts. However, it is entirely unsatisfying from a narrative perspective, offering only a raw "puzzle" (technically a riddle, wrapped in mystery, inside an enigma) that is disconnected from the story's ostensible premise and any conceivable player motivation other than sheer will-to-complete.

It's really too bad. The seed idea (allegedly: trying to complete an adventure game that has become corrupted and no longer functions correctly) is the kind of scenario that might have actually happened in the nostalgic era of oft-pirated 5 1/4" floppies. It seems like it would be possible to build a surrealist story with clever puzzles on this foundation, and, based on his later work with the Frenetic Five series, I am certain Mr. DeMause had the creativity to do so.

Although I did not like this particular example of the author's handiwork, it is competently put together, and some small part of me does appreciate it how it can be appreciated. As such, I am compelled to give it two stars, though I recommend avoiding it unless you are interested in its historical value as an entry in the very first IF Comp.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote

Flag as inappropriate

Direct link

View my user filters

Explain these options

| View comments (1) - Add comment

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

It really isn't winnable, June 13, 2009

by dankna

I remembered that this game frustrated me many years ago, and replayed it on a random impulse. Or rather, tried to. I looked for walkthroughs but I guess the ifcomp wasn't requiring them back then, so I actually went so far as to use a decompiler to verify that there is no way to win. So, don't waste time trying to. Posting this review is just my way of gaining closure. :)

Other than that I've got nothing to add to the other review, which is fair enough: It's not large, so it might be worth a look for the handful of small gags it contains. I take it the game is a spoof, but it doesn't seem to clearly be a spoof OF anything.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote

Flag as inappropriate

Direct link

View my user filters

Explain these options

| View comments (2) - Add comment

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

The Best Worst IF Game in History, December 22, 2008

by Aaron Mumaw (Appalachia)

Undo is a prank. What makes it interesting is that it is also clever, short, and (sort of) solvable. While I can't say that this is more than a two star game, it is easily a four or five star joke, and well worth the couple minutes it will take to experience it.

Out of the twelve games in the very first IF Comp two were essentially anti-games: Undo and MST3K presents "Detective." Both games were fairly hilarious meditations on badness and (for better or worse) helped stretch the definition of what would be considered acceptable IF.

Unlike this year's The Absolute Worst IF Game in History, Undo shows that a disrespectful gesture can be made in a classy way. A pie in the face every once in a while is fine: how about custard instead of cow?

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote

Flag as inappropriate

Direct link

View my user filters

Explain these options

| Add a comment

1-5 of 5 | Return to game's main page