Posted 16 November 2001 to rec.games.int-fiction

Thoughts before starting --
While I'll miss being a competitor, I think I'll enjoy being a judge this year. I can actually PLAY the games and not look at them through the jaundiced eye of a enemy. :) Plus, my ballot counts!

Thoughts looking through the titles before starting -- An odd assortment, to be sure. I'm waiting for one lame title to wow me and one cool title to disappoint me.

Authors --
These are just MY opinions. I think the thing to keep in mind is if you see a theme throughout everyone's reviews of your game, that might be telling you something. If you see it here only, you can probably chalk it up to my personal subjectivity or stupidity. Call me a Philistine, if it helps.

N.B. --
I didn't play all of the games. I didn't review all the games I played.

I often completely miss a good game. "Shade" got me last year. I thought, "an apartment game, fiddly constraints, later for you." D'oh.

Consequently, I do give up on games that wear me down. As a judge, I'll put in more, but not much more, effort. If your game picks up as it goes and I missed out, I apologize.

I'm using the Comp01 random order of games.

I beta-tested No Time To Squeal.

My rating system --
I divide a game into two overall sections. A game can be professional and still bore me; a game can be amateurish and still amuse me. These sections aren't mutually exclusive. It's hard to be immersed in a world full of bugs. It's hard to enjoy certain "well-written" works of literature. Bottom line for me, IF is entertainment.

I "normalized" these for purposes of actual voting. I gave one 10, to All Roads, and two 9s, to Moments Out Of Time and Prized Possession.

ENJOYMENT (E)

Immersion (5 pts)

  Did I believe in the world? Was it consistent? Did the game achieve its goals?

Subjective (5 pts)

  Was I entertained? This is the SPAG "Wild Card" equivalent.

QUALITY (Q)

Bugs (3 pts)

  More apt, the bugs I find. A game rendered unplayable gets 0 pts. I'm not beta-testing these games, I'm playing them. So I will not be jotting down most bugs.

Prose (4 pts)

  Could this be MORE subjective? But play Muse and Lightiana and realize there IS a spectrum of literary ability. Nothing ruins a game quite like poor writing.
Writing is an essential element in interactive fiction, but it's not the only thing. If I want purely well-written works, I'll read books.

Skill (3 pts)

  Confidence and poise with the medium. Graphics are all well and good, but I'll take brilliant black-and-white text over average color photos every time.

E = I + S
Q = B + P + S
E + Q / 2 = Overall rating

Crusade

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5 pts)
Somehow, I did feel like I was leading a motley crue of people, none of whom wanted to be there. Alas, the setting is far from memorable.

I was at a loss for what to do most of the time--quite normal for me in interactive fiction! The difference here was that to figure out what to do next, I was thinking in game terms not in world terms.

Mimesis "golden opportunities" were rarely taken.

Subjective (1/5 pts)
There were a few chuckles to be had. I liked the response to "ask men about goose", for example. But, Crusade was too bitter for my parody tastes. The pacing was uneven. I eventually gave up on this. If I missed a biting Infidel spoof, let me know.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (2/3 pts)
Burning Bush message is the same as the Help command? (Forgivable if the message had been funny.)

Prose (2/4 pts)
Nothing horrible--some evocative descriptions, some awkward phrasings. Decent writing. Used "its" correctly, always cheering to see.

Skill (0/3 pts)
"x me" -- as good looking as ever. Debug mode was left on.
"You see nothing special about... [any of your inventory]"
"x desert" -- you can't see any such thing. Etc... The lack of any polish really hurt this game.

Overall rating 3.5

Stranded

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (1/5 pts)
The pictures helped me get a feel for the place and were often pretty to view, but the text (see Skill, below) didn't always coincide. The picture shows a resort-like beach, yet just swimming around in the calmly portrayed waters sucks me out to sea? I can't believe I'm wading through the marshes the pictures depict. If this were a travelogue, the immersion would be complete. As a game, not at all.

Subjective (1/5 pts)
First thought before playing: Is this that previously-released Stranded game? The opening set me up for a James Bond pace, then I'm constantly looking at mundane scenery? Again, each picture is pretty, but the pace is extremely slow and boring. Arggh! several directions that lead to death (if there was a trick to the quicksand, I didn't care by that point.) I looked at the walkthrough and saw another SNOSAE.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (2/3 pts)
Didn't mention that I was swimming in the ocean... until I tried to go south (then I realized I where I was... the hard way.)

Prose (2/4 pts)
Reasonable in and of itself, but it rarely succeed in drawing me into the story.

Skill (1/3 pts)
First thought as the screen came up: Yes! That's how an opening screen should look. Touching the grass "feels just like a grass." Touching the sea "feels just like a ocean". With nothing much going on, I should be able to interact with what IS there. I can't swim in the ocean ("I don't see any here.") "x sand" on the beach results in not seeing any sand... ah, as it turns out, I had been swimming after all. Do I really look the same as always, even after a harrowing fall from a plane, a blow to the head and a long traipse through a marsh?

Overall rating: 3.5

The Chasing

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (4/5 pts)
It's difficult to instill a sense of urgency while still describing the world you live in. This game seems to maintain that balance. There could be more synonyms--it hurts the immersion to read "I don't know that word." The world works despite rather (at times) simplistic descriptions because the pacing is perfect and the tone is consistent.

Subjective (4/5 pts)
I like the name Julius. How's that for subjective? A pleasant start overall, actually. Where's the sparrow? ;) The pacing is good and I have a sense of what I'm supposed to do. I was pleased to be able to use the verb "scare". A nice touch, the servants helping me--a fitting combination of game and story.

I liked being able to solve the problems on their own terms without a web of absurd complexity.

A pleasant and charming diversion! I had a fun time with this.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3 pts)
I didn't see any.

Prose (3/4 pts)
Generally good prose, a rocky moment or two (non-native English speaker?) but nothing glaring. Most of the prose complemented the story.

Skill (2/3 pts)
"x me" ... the third game in a row not wishing to do much with this. A path is described in a location but cannot be examined. Same for the other estates. This is a good place to reveal information, since I'm the one stopping to "smell the roses" and you're not forcing it on me. Plus, I'm on reconnaissance... things at a distance would interest me.

"contains a trinkets." Little things like that added up. Nothing to prevent me having fun, but breaks in mimesis all the same.

Overall rating: 8

The Cruise

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (I) (1/5)
At first I was psyched for the trip. Then the action slowed down to a "search the nearly abandoned ship." Where are my fellow party-goers? The ship is "realistically" large with lots of identical hallways. There was little feel of an active, engaging or original world. Then I stumbled across "the objective" and gave up.

Subjective (S) (1/5)
The Rhinoceros... Bwahaha. Alas, no sense of pace; characters are wooden; and a toilet's thrown in. Like Stranded there was an honest effort put forth, but the game just didn't appeal to me.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (B) (2/3)
"x shower" - "there's nothing in the ." Generally, fairly bug free--as far as I was able to get in the game.

Prose (P) (2/4)
Grammatically fine, but no atmosphere, mood or humor.

Skill (S) (1/3)
Again with the "you look about the same as always" A few extra touches--the slot machine, for example.

Rating: 2.5

Grayscale

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5)
I know I'm not supposed to know what's going on, but my surroundings could be interesting. Establish a mood, an atmosphere, SOMETHING that tells me I'm in for a unique experience or at least a pleasurable-if- familiar ride. Strangely this world did make me feel, slightly, that I was there.

Subjective (2/5)
I felt comfortable with this author after reading the "info"--that although he was a newer author, he had done his homework. I think this is a fair first effort, which of course means there are improvements to be made. I hope this author learns from ALL of the reviews posted, and takes heart. He has potential.

A final frustration with this game was when I uncovered a secret door. This should be cool, but it led me to a location I already had visited. <sarcasm ON> woo-hoo <sarcasm OFF>

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3)
I didn't see any.

Prose (1/4)
Occasional misspellings. Mostly decent prose taken line by line, but it repeatedly failed to inject emotion or convey the story. I did smile at the response to "kiss her".

Skill (1/3)
"The same as always." The first game that doesn't do this will probably get undeserved bonus points from me! Is "listen" not a default TADS command? It would be appropriate in this game, at least. The library was skimpy and yet it occupied nine locations. I know it's difficult to finish writing a game, but it feels like all of the effort went into the "important" parts--the puzzles and integrating the locations.

Rating: 4.5

The Isolato Incident

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (5/5 pts)
Isolato feels like For A Change minus two abstraction layers. This world has the same lyrical beauty, but I "understood" sooner.

Subjective (4/5 pts)
Ah, a first person plural game. Can you imagine the buzz that will cause? <OK, I'll stop> I guess that exhausts the six possibilities! Peculiar but intriguing start. Beautiful, imaginative prose (but that's covered below.) This work has that "why didn't I think of this?" quality. So, is ALAN (the language not the author) the platform of choice by people with a writing background yet are reluctant programmers?

I wasn't able to achieve "closure" in the 2-hour time allotment. This is one I'll play again, especially after reading other reviews telling me everything I missed.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (2/3 pts)
There are bugs and there are bugs. <rim shot> Same sequence exists before and after jumping off the apiary. If I do a look, afterwards, I shouldn't be told "as we're about to hit the ground..." This sort of thing happens in many places.

Prose (4/4 pts)
Let me be the first reviewer to avoid the honey analogy. The writing is terrific. There's a poetic harmony that complements the story.

Skill (2/3 pts)
Yay. An "x us" for double points, Alex. "listen" command implemented. Yay, again. A few nouns not implemented, scenery not always available to examine. A few typos. The author has the talent, he just needs time to master a new medium. Watch for this guy.

Overall rating: 8.5

Silicon Castles

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5 pts)
Um, yes and no. I did feel like I was playing the intended game. Z-abuses are funny that way. I felt some of the atmosphere, but there wasn't really anything special.

Subjective (2/5 pts)
I used to play tournament chess, a 1500-1600 player (meaning I stunk) after two years of play (then I bailed). I clobbered this thing. Woo-hoo! So, I'll add some "feel good about myself" points.

I couldn't write a chess program, but, if I could, I'd make it possible to castle and to promote a pawn (or provide documentation showing someone how). The "wait" command after my move was annoying; I kept forgetting to do this.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (1/3 pts)
No real problems until I was ready to win and got a [Programming Error:], AND the genie took my rook when it wasn't a valid move, all in one turn.

Prose (1/4 pts)
Almost Plotkinesque for a moment there.

Skill (1/3 pts)
I loved the way the board looked. The interface was clunky, though. The genie played a polite (meaning boring) game of chess.

Overall rating: 3.5

Goofy

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (1/5)
A modicum of atmosphere. I did feel mildly claustrophobic.

Subjective (1/5)
This didn't do anything for me. It didn't anger me, though.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3)
Well, no bugs to find. The parser pretty much snuffs everything out.

Prose (1/4)
The prose was technically fine, but it offered nothing in way of atmosphere or emotion.

Skill (1/3)
This takes no risks.

Rating: 3.5

Fine-Tuned

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5)
Amusing Fine-Tuned may be, but I never felt "into" the situations.

Subjective (4/5)
I got a kick out of this. I tried playing without a grin, but failed. This was fun.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (2/3)
A typo (as the as the) or two, but this is pretty clean. I didn't finish the game, though. (After-Comp note: Obviously I didn't finish this)

Prose (3/4)
Quite dashing, actually, with a light sense of humor throughout.

Skill (2/3)
x me actually gives a description beyond the banal--Hey, a concept. Debug left on, but I may never again get the chance to type "purloin aloysius". Usually something is going on, but scenery isn't always able to be examined.

Rating: 6.5

Schroedinger's Cat

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5 pts)
In very much a The City way, there is an "I'm trapped" immersion. A bland immersion, but an immersion none-the-less. (Hey, great band name there, "Bland Immersion".)

Subjective (2/5 pts)
I admire the two experiments (the IF and the actual in- "game" experiment) but I didn't much enjoy them. I think if I ever "get it", that would enhance my appreciation.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3 pts)
I didn't see any. I played for only a short time, however.

Prose (2/4 pts)
Like a fine technical manual, this didn't get better with age. Nor did it get worse.

Skill (1/3 pts)
Here's an example of enjoyment intersecting with quality. I didn't particularly enjoy the game, so I may have missed some skillful touches. There was a lack of encouragement, perhaps, and a lack of things to do beyond the actual purpose of the game.

I'm betting some people really liked this, so the author can blame me for missing the boat.

Overall rating: 5

Jump

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (4/5 pts)
I found myself drawn into this bleak world and felt its oppression. There was often a question of "what am I supposed to do next," but this fit the story. A "black cloud" atmosphere was effectively conveyed. I felt the internal struggle. Too short of a work to be completely immersed.

Subjective (2/5 pts)
I didn't care for having to repeat the "talk to" command. A lot of waiting around. There's that 1981 feeling that while this is an "intense experience" it's still a distasteful one.

I like the strides this author has taken. A future comp coup may be his, if he works diligently.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3 pts)
I didn't encounter any.

Prose (3/4 pts)
The descriptions and events were rendered fairly well, but they guided the story nicely and injected it with power.

Skill (1/3 pts)
Synonyms weren't always available. Textual layout was occasionally off. Attention to detail would have helped this game. The game was insistent on its sequences--most games are, but some carry it off with the illusion of reality and this one didn't. Get rid of the score/moves on the top.

Overall rating: 6.5

(Post Comp notes, after looking at how this fared: Guess, I'm alone on this one.)

Carma

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5 pts)
While I often smiled, I didn't get caught up in the whimsy. The event segues were abrupt. Maybe "bad-dream" abrupt, I guess. Mainly I kept thinking "this is cute", but I never really got into it. Maybe the lack of interaction hurt, here.

Subjective (3/5 pts)
This has "Doe" written all over it. If this is not the author, consider that a compliment.

At the "gunfight", I would have thought "draw" would be a great double-meaning command. The pictures were professionally rendered and quite charming. Isn't "fatal" all or nothing, like pregnant and unique? "Bring needless words down to a minimum"-- except in songs where 'down' helps the meter. ;-) But, I loved the song and the bouncing ball.

This would be a good game for kids, but the song parodied would have to be something a wee more modern than Bing Crosby. "Ooops, I, did, it, again." ;-) I digress.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (2/3 pts)
Thorough. There seemed to be "lock-ups" with my gluxe (Windows) interpreter. To get a cursor, I had to choose the "scrollback" menu option and then close that window. This is mentioned in the help, but it was annoying.

Prose (3/4 pts)
It served its purpose, at times rather cleverly.

Skill (2/3 pts)
Great opening screen. Creatively cute graphics. I didn't feel much depth to the world, but this is not a deep game. There's something lacking, but I can't put my finger on it. I'll steal Adam Cadre's "fluffy pastry" comparison.

Overall rating: 6

(Post Comp notes: Marnie revealed herself AFTER this review was written.)

Film At Eleven

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5 pts)
The tone was established from the start and was maintained nicely. The pace didn't keep up as well. The NPCs were better than cardboard, they were described crisply and they responded moderately well to a variety of commands, but they were still flat. There's a nice sense of place, at first, but it faded away as I played.

Subjective (2/5 pts)
My first laugh out-loud line of the Comp, and in the second paragraph. Wow, the pace of the writing is difficult after the many slow-moving games I've played so far. But the writing is funny and I'm catching up to it.

The atmosphere is too dry, overall. I never felt the urgency of getting the scoop.

My main gripe is the story. Nothing in it struck me as original. Nothing struck me as particularly interesting.

My secondary gripe is the feeling that I was just collecting parts to a puzzle. After heading to the walkthough, I think there was too much to do in two hours of playing.

There's a big gap between my Enjoyment rating and my Quality rating. I think the author did a technically fine job on this, and I wanted to like the game more than I did.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3 pts)
None as such.

Prose (3/4 pts)
The writing conveyed hicktown, USA, with a piece o' homespun style.

Skill (2/3 pts)
I enjoyed the descriptions and being able to try strange commands. One problem is that the strange commands didn't seem to impact the NPCs or the world beyond a turn. I tried "kiss vikki" and was pleasantly surprised at the response. I tried it again and got exactly the same response. Lots of repeated conversations.

Kudos for accepting "make an appointment".

I was confused with the doughnut. I tried to take it and the chief said, "... but it's the last one." I tried again. I assumed I didn't have it. Then it turned up when I did an inventory.

Can I really carry two drinks in a purse?

Cabinets are plural, but cannot be referred to as "them".

The NPCs and the cue-ing of what I should do next felt forced.

A nice effort, overall, though. My complaints are more of a wish-list nature.

Overall rating: 6

URHere

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5)
Harolde says, "This forest has a sense of... evil about it." That does simulate MUD text. I'm immersed in the non-immersion. I do feel like I've telnetted into a MUD, but without real other people enlivening it (somewhat).

Subjective (1/5)
Nothing here is bad, but blandness permeates everything. Just like on a MUD, there's no pace whatsoever. Good to see all the emotes, but they lacked meaning with nobody real to appreciate them. "If you hiccup on a MUD and nobody hears you, do you make a sound?"

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3)
Nothing I found. The programming is rather impressive.

Prose (1/4)
Technically and generally OK, but the writing just sits there and yawns.

Skill (1/3)
The formatting of the paragraphs and the NPCs wasn't always consistent. I'm sure the combat system is quite complex. Perhaps the medium of an IF work isn't conducive simulating a MUD. Doesn't the M stand for Multi? Hmmm...

Overall Rating: 4

Moments Out Of Time

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (5/5)
The atmosphere is a weird "brooding excitement" of contradictions, an intense gamut of emotions leading to a Dive.

I normally suck at these sci-fi techno-scenarios, but the author guided this novice well. As I missed "obvious" instructions, I was informed what I was doing wrong as I was doing it. Even this supported the mood.

I've been in many time machines in my day, but this is by far the most "realistic" seeming. I'm totally into this one.

Subjective (5/5)
StreamDive chips--cool. In fact--very cool.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3)
Nope. My terp did fine, too.

Prose (3/4)
The prose was polished and fit the story well.

Skill (3/3)
This oozes professionalism.

Overall Rating: 9.5

Prized Possession

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (5/5 pts)
I was engrossed from the first sentence. The mood is captured perfectly. The senses are woven into the descriptions, so I felt my surroundings in a natural way. I don't think I've experienced a work of IF that kept this kind of emotional and dramatic pace. Wonderful sense of time and place--this IS late 12th century England. I assumed the player character persona right away--she feels real--Xyzzy Best PC real.

Subjective (4/5 pts)
Great start. Back-to-back games with great starts. This opening is easier to get into right away, but the comparison with Moments is an Apples/Oranges thing.

I tried "hold breath" and "put blanket over head" type of things and they didn't work. "call horse" results in a weird response. No "crawl", but I guess fire safety programs hadn't been instituted in schools in 1182.

"d" in the barn tells me I take a few steps... Really?

The opening sequence would have benefited, as exciting as it was, from command based timing. That is, a look or examine would take only 1 time unit, and a more time-consuming action would take, well, more time units.

Dying in this game is a good design choice. It creates tension. I got a lot of tension the first few plays. ;-)

D'oh. I missed the trough description. I had the right idea, too.

This has a Varicella quality in that I pieced the story together a little more after screwing up each time. Similar, also, is that as I started getting into the part and, horrors, paying attention to what was going on, I advanced the story more quickly.

I liked how conversation was handled and how it was integrated into the story.

I didn't really "buy" the reason I couldn't talk to my escort team.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (1/3 pts)
"drestrier", "catches you eye", "loosing your turn" "up too", many typos, but nothing to make the game unplayable (or even annoying.) This could have greatly benefited from another round of proofreading. I bumbled onto a "fatal error" bug, too, alas. It didn't affect my story, but... This doesn't diminish my opinion of the game-- it's outstanding--but it does affect the Comp score.

Prose (4/4 pts)
Terrific. The pacing of the words and the clarity of concept make the whole thing work.

Skill (3/3 pts)
The author has the artisan's touch for interactive fiction. There's a master craftsman (or is that mistress craftswoman?) feel throughout the work.

Overall rating: 8.5

Journey from an Islet

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (2/5 pts)
I did get a feeling for the lands, but the senses weren't employed (touch, smell, listen). This is important for fully experiencing the vistas. I didn't get an idea of self, either--who I was or why anything mattered. Not that anything HAS to matter, there can be the joy of the experience in and of itself. But then we're back to the lack of interaction and senses. Effective use of shading depending on the time of day. I thought that was cool.

Subjective (2/5 pts)
Rather flat--the fiction isn't there. The prose is fine, but I need more levels of story and interaction than are offered here.

The artwork is hit-or-miss. I love the journey.jpg, but the sheep and the stars left me rolling my eyes.

The player is guided nicely at times, exits displayed when he goes the wrong way.

I wanted more. The author clearly has the "tools" to capture a setting and to write well. Stretch the imagination!

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3 pts)
None I could find.

Prose (3/4 pts)
The writing is fine as far as it goes.

Skill (1/3 pts)
Here's a case where I feel the author has talent but that he just didn't put it to use much here.

Overall rating: 5.5

All Roads

Enjoyment (E)

Immersion (5/5 pts)
I was into this from the get-go. The tension and mood was perfect.

Subjective (4/5 pts)
I felt this could have been a little more interactive. Yeah, picky, picky. The illusion that I wasn't following the ONE plot broke every now and again.

Quality (Q)

Bugs (3/3 pts)
None I could find.

Prose (4/4 pts)
The most evocative writing in the comp.

Skill (3/3 pts)
Fuhgettaboutit.

Overall rating: 9.5