Ralph

by Miron Schmidt profile

Slice of life
1996

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Number of Reviews: 5
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1-5 of 5


1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Give a dog a bone. Short, cute game, February 3, 2016

This game was nominated for an XYZZY for best individual NPC.

You are a dog named Ralph wandering around the yard with a cat and a boy name Christopher Robin, after the Pooh stories. You have to find your bone.

This game is cute and short, with only three puzzles. I did use hints.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Not really my thing (see spoiler for why), January 21, 2016
by Deboriole (San Diego, CA)

Although this short game had one great puzzle at the start (for which I am giving the game an extra star), the second and third puzzles were not very intuitive. Playing as a dog I assumed my actions were somewhat limited and that I would need to get creative on the second puzzle. However, upon looking at the walkthrough, it turns out I simply needed to use a common action typically reserved for beings with arms. Hmm... but I'm a dog. How would that work, exactly? Anyway, the worst is yet to come. I inadvertently ruined the game for myself with the third puzzle. How was I to know that I would determine my fate based on (Spoiler - click to show)where I left the pipe? Leaving it in the garden (which is where I left it upon my first play through, just by chance) causes me to be beaten by my master and left shaking in my doghouse. A turn of events which made me really sad and a little angry. I wouldn't really recommend this game unless you can overlook the verb issue I mentioned, and you don't do what I mentioned in the spoiler tag.

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2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Cute idea, obtuse puzzles, April 15, 2010
by Danielle (The Wild West)
Related reviews: animal games

While I really enjoyed the concept (I love any game where you get to be an animal), and found the implementation solid (esp. of Christopher Robin, who is adorable), the puzzles were, for me, really obtuse. I ran to the walkthrough and still had no idea what would have led me to take that set of winning actions.

(Also, between this and "A Day for Soft Food"--what's with hostile NPC owners and animals?)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Short and illogical, but somewhat amusing, October 6, 2009
by Victor Gijsbers (The Netherlands)

In Ralph, you get to play a dog looking for a bone he buried a long time ago. In the garden. You can bet the family will be happy with your attempts to find it.

The main problem with Ralph is that the final solution to the puzzle doesn't make sense. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the actions you do will result in you finding your bone. So why do them? In the end, this game is only solvable because it is very short and you can simply try out everything until you have done what will turn out to be the right actions. But this is hardly satisfying.

Ralph was nominated for best individual PC in the 1996 XYZZY Awards. Partly this will be because a dog as protagonist is not often seen, and is certainly more interesting than a nameless adventurer; but there is also the fact that Ralph's personality emerges from the storyline. Nothing really special, but I can imagine that it made a favourable impression in 1996.

All in all, this game is not bad, but it certainly not a classic either.

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1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Dog-gone good time!, July 8, 2008
by Nathaniel Kirby (Pennsylvania)

Ralph is an enjoyable game. It is consistently well-written and well-implemented. Your character is thoroughly believable. The fact that you play an average, run of the mill, house dog makes the game that much more enjoyable.

My only qualm with Ralph is its shortness. There aren't any glaring bugs or typos, and the writing never loses voice or style. If you like playing a game with a non-human player character, go for it.

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