Birdland

by Brendan Patrick Hennessy profile

Part of the Bell Park series
Teens
2015

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Reviews and Ratings

5 star:
(84)
4 star:
(51)
3 star:
(14)
2 star:
(4)
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(1)
Average Rating:
Number of Ratings: 154
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- sleepbox, December 31, 2017

- KittyDaKat, December 28, 2017

- Dominia, December 23, 2017

- Squidi, December 5, 2017

- idzzy, November 23, 2017

- Shchekotiki, November 20, 2017

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
YA Fiction for all ages, October 25, 2017
by Angharade
Related reviews: Young Adult

This is the first time I have enjoyed a twine-based game to the same degree as a parser game. The way the character's mood affected the outcomes was magnificent, unique and made me feel in control, even when I wasn't. The writing was sublime. I was not expecting to get so invested in the story, but the gameplay was so special and the underlying story so delicious, I had to keep going.

Minor criticisms: the romance between two of the characters felt lackluster at best. There was no real depiction of why these two would connect. (Spoiler - click to show)Bell is a frustrating humblebrag type, and the protagonist seems to be struggling with depression, which I really resonated with. However, the romance seemed forced, with little dialogue resembling connectivity.

I will say that the humor in this is absolutely wonderful for all, of any age, and that I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and story line. I stayed with it primarily for the dry wit. The portrait illustrations were an added plus.

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- alltheirises (Chicago, Illinois), October 25, 2017

- LayzaSkully (Italy), October 24, 2017

- M. C. DeMarco (Boston), October 19, 2017

- helado (a small ceramic bowl), October 5, 2017

- enkaye (usa), September 1, 2017

- Laney Berry, August 21, 2017

- dixonjd, August 4, 2017

- Ivanr, August 1, 2017

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Wet Hot American Summer + The Birds + Inception = Birdland, July 27, 2017
by juliaofbath (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Related reviews: bird fiction, comedy

‘Birdland’, simply put, is one of the most entertaining interactive fiction games I have ever played. Margaret, the protagonist, navigates a technology restrictive summer camp during the day, and at night she must enact parody-like rhetorical scenarios in her dreams for an audience of bird-people with a robotic understanding of the English language.

(Spoiler - click to show)A highlight for me was the pirate dream scenario. It’s not often I have actual laugh-out-loud moments while reading IF, so it really took me by surprise to find myself guffawing heartily at the mechanical remarks of Pirate-Margaret’s bird-person first mate.

The actual mechanics of the game were engaging and really helped build intrigue in the plot. As the two plots (the real world and the dream world) slowly became more closely intertwined, the mood-check meter began forcing me down interesting paths, and in fact took the plot in a different direction than I had intended. Although a bit unsettling, this feature proved to be both an effective method of incorporating interactivity, and of mediating the truth of consequence.

This story, to me, demonstrates what interactive fiction should be: entertaining, though-provoking, surreal at times, and re-playable. I truly felt as though my decisions had palpable influence on the progression of the story, and I look forward to re-playing ‘Birdland’ soon.

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- doodlelogic, July 17, 2017

- oakheart17, July 1, 2017

- mirandamiranda, June 30, 2017

- ly2000, June 4, 2017

- Mxxie, May 16, 2017

- Spike, May 8, 2017

- Wei Yuan Lee, May 2, 2017

- roselaw, March 2, 2017

- TheAncientOne, January 28, 2017


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