| 5 star: | | (39) | | 4 star: | | (18) | | 3 star: | | (6) | | 2 star: | | (0) | | 1 star: | | (0) |
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Number of Ratings: 63
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Showing All | Show by Page - Artran (Taipei, Taiwan), March 12, 2024
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McT's Interactive Fiction Reviews
Beautifully, professionally done – superbly implemented. Funny, clever and delicious. I doubt it can be completed in 2 hours, but this is currently the standard bearer in the competition for me. 10/10.
IF Comprehensive
A rich setting, motivated puzzles, and memorable characters
My introduction to interactive fiction was playing the Infocom games as a kid. They were fun then but a bit dated now, with an emphasis on contrived inventory and set-piece puzzles and less NPC interaction than modern works. “Alias ‘The Magpie'” plays like one of the best games from that era, but with a rich setting, motivated puzzles, and memorable characters. Score: 10
Patrick Brian Mooney
This was a fun treasure hunt. The multiple levels of deception involved in pretending to be multiple people to various NPCs was also a fun mechanic. The multiple disguises were great, too, and most of the interlocking puzzles were wonderful. The map was elegantly designed and access control handled gracefully. In all of these ways, it feels a lot like The Wizard Sniffer last year, though with a smaller, more restricted field of action and with a larger verb set. But all in all, it's wonderful in some of the same ways. Rating 9/10
- sw3dish, October 13, 2022
- Kinetic Mouse Car, August 1, 2022
- dvs, May 24, 2022
- DocDoe, September 29, 2021
- Prosilire (New York City), August 21, 2021
- Lance Campbell (United States), August 17, 2021
- William Chet (Michigan), May 24, 2021
- jusw85, February 11, 2021
- TheBoxThinker, January 25, 2021
- seguso, December 1, 2020
3 of
3 people found the following review helpful:
Delightfully SIlly, November 10, 2020This game was a remarkably fun and polished piece of slapstick humor. It clearly takes inspiration from the Pink Panther movies, among other places, but stands up quite well on its own. The puzzles are generally fair, and a hint system is provided which should benefit people who don't care for such things.
This is, unfortunately, the kind of game which only really works once. I can't imagine enjoying the experience as much a second time through, but I suppose games which are satisfying in that respect are few and far between. Lest I see to be damning with faint praise, I most certainly enjoyed this game, and recommend it to people looking for light-hearted entertainment.
3 of
3 people found the following review helpful:
Very fun and (mostly) fair game in the classic style, October 1, 2020I very much enjoyed playing this game. It is a parser-based, puzzle-filled game in the classic style of Infocom's "Deadline".
You play a gentleman thief (think Danny Ocean) and master of disguise, on a mission to steal a priceless jewel (and anything else you might find of value along the way). You roam about a two-story manor and the surrounding grounds, trying to find a way to get at the prize, while also having to solve a few minor mysteries along the way.
The size and length of the game are easily digestible. I was navigating without a map an hour into the game and it took me a little over three hours to complete (and I was definitely barking up the wrong tree a couple times). The puzzles were very fair (with one notable exception). I felt like there were plenty of clues to guide you along the way, and also a few red herrings to keep it from being too easy. The game is also very funny, with some off-the-wall characters, hilarious situations and always polished and clever prose.
The game, I think, pays homage to Deadline in a number of fun ways that I found enjoyable, including a (Spoiler - click to show) somewhat hidden room between two bedrooms, balconies that you had to access via ladder, and a curmudgeonly groundskeeper.
For my one problem with the game, I thought there was one puzzle that I never would have solved on my own without the walkthrough. Even the in game hints didn't do enough to get me to the solution. So if you are stuck and you've been over everything twice and you still don't know what to do next, see below for my own Invisiclues to help you get through it. But don't let that scare you, you should definitely play this game!
1)(Spoiler - click to show)
Are you trying to get your hands on the giant cucumber? If not, then I would just recommend examining everything and trying to "get" everything again, because these clues are cucumber-centric.
2)(Spoiler - click to show)
What if I told you there was a way to get the cucumber without finding the key to the padlock?
3)(Spoiler - click to show)
Good, because there is no key to that padlock. So what else can we try? In case of cucumber emergency...
4)(Spoiler - click to show)
...break glass. But wait, if the under-gardener hears us then the jig will be up. How can we break the glass quietly?
5)(Spoiler - click to show)
Maybe if we put something soft over the glass before we break it to muffle the sound. But we haven't been able to procure anything soft for the job, so what else do we have? Maybe the newspaper?
6)(Spoiler - click to show)
Okay, but plain newspaper won't really muffle it at all. What if the newspaper were wet?
7)(Spoiler - click to show)
If you are an American like me, you probably have no idea what treacle is. Apparently you can eat it, but mainly, if you put newspaper in it then it will turn the newspaper into a silencer for your clandestine glass breaking operations. Give it a try and good luck with the rest of the game!
- Rainbow Fire , August 29, 2020
- peachesncream, August 3, 2020
- kierlani, June 1, 2020
- Cait Sith (Czech Republic), May 13, 2020
- Sammel, March 27, 2020
- IFonthebrain, December 29, 2019
- tmack, October 14, 2019
- jaclynhyde, October 3, 2019
- nosferatu, September 2, 2019
- Wanderlust, August 23, 2019
- Doug Orleans (Somerville, MA, USA), August 4, 2019
- lunaterra (GA, USA), July 30, 2019
- Indigo9182, June 10, 2019
- JoQsh, March 20, 2019
- IanAllenBird, March 13, 2019
- elias67, March 13, 2019
4 of
4 people found the following review helpful:
A hilarious comedy game with plenty of puzzles and a British setting, February 17, 2019This is a great comedy based on misunderstandings and physical humor.
You are a thief, sent to steal a priceless object from a British manor. But to do so, you must assum a variety of costumes and identities.
Along the way, you discover the secrets of the household and the neighborhood, including lies, deceit, regret, and gorillas.
There were a few sticky points in puzzles that were fussier than they needed to be, but otherwise this is a prime example of what a polished parser puzzler can look like. One of the best games of the 2010’s.
- nf, February 10, 2019
- getlostdont, February 5, 2019
- Laney Berry, January 29, 2019
- Stian, January 22, 2019
- mapped, January 3, 2019
- Bartlebooth, December 9, 2018
- mrfrobozzo, November 21, 2018
- jakomo, November 21, 2018
- Flapcats, November 21, 2018
- E.K., November 20, 2018
- AKheon (Finland), November 20, 2018
- caitirilt, November 19, 2018
- Denk, November 19, 2018
- maxltj, November 19, 2018
- Mike Carletta (Pittsburgh), November 18, 2018
- Guenni (At home), November 17, 2018
- CMG (NYC), November 16, 2018
4 of
4 people found the following review helpful:
One of the Best IF Comedies I've Ever Played, November 16, 2018Alias 'The Magpie' drew me in quickly, with its very English tone and sense of humor. I found it cleverly-written, well-implemented, and a lot of fun to play.
Like last year's The Wizard Sniffer, as the story in Alias 'The Magpie' unfolds it keeps raising the comedic stakes higher and higher in ways that leave you thinking, "How is this all going to hold together?" But it does. Does it ever: I have rarely laughed so much playing an IF game! J.J. Guest has already demonstrated a fine-tuned ear for comedy in To Hell in a Hamper, but it's clear he's gotten better with time: Alias 'The Magpie' is longer, features several more characters, and has a much more complex plot, but that comedic fine-tuning somehow manages to be even more on pitch.
My one critique is that I think a couple of the puzzles are rather difficult for a light comedy game. But this is a minor critique in what is a truly excellent parser comedy - one of the best IF comedies I've ever played, in fact.
- Pegbiter (Malmö, Sweden), November 12, 2018
- Sobol (Russia), November 5, 2018
- Jacob MacDonald, October 29, 2018
4 of
4 people found the following review helpful:
Great game for those new to IF, October 25, 2018This is only my third IF game/book but it is easily my favourite. It's very accessible to those of us without the experience of of IF conventions and expectations.
The puzzles are great and easily solved with help from the extension (and hilarious) hint system. It took me a bit longer than most but I didn't mind wandering around being an idiot, as everything had a purpose in the end.
The characters are amusing and easily recognizable if you've ever read Wodehouse, though they are more whimsical, though just as expertly written.
It will definitely make you laugh. And I don't think you'll be able to stop playing before you get to the end...
- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), October 14, 2018
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