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[Dino-Comp] More Cranky Opinions..

by Quentin D. Thompson

Posted 2 April 2000 to rec.games.int-fiction

Well, great comp, Adam. (I don't know why Adam's mini-comps always draw a large number of largely good entries - I must ask him one of these days, because I'm planning one myself, though not right now.) Fourteen for the most part entertaining games, except for one particular game that was probably written just to annoy hundreds of players - you know the type, I guess; it began with "Silence Of The Lambs". Well, in my book, here's how the fossil crumbled:

HIGH-END: (7 and above): 1) Old Dog by Tony Delgado - brilliant. Lots of fun. Logical. And punishes you for playing Ricky Martin. 9/10. 2) A Dino's Night Out by Aris Katsaris - a fun pastiche of Tapestry with a cool David Dyte-inspired hook. 8/10. 3) Revenger by Robb Sherwin. This wasn't quite as funny as Robb's magnum opus, Chix Dig Jerks, but it was still an original piece of IF worth anyone's time. High 7/10. And 4) Dinosaur Love by Peter Berman. Weird, but I sort of liked the idea. Low 7/10.

MIDDLE-END: (4 to 6): 1) Rowr by Gunther Schmidl - it's hard to dislike a game whose opening lampoons Jigsaw, but it's too short. 6/10. 2) An Important Appointment by Jennifer Earl. Pretty good, but didn't quite give me the same kick as the preceding five games. High 5/10. 3) Deep Brow Lifter by Neil deMause. Again, nice gimmick, but not much to it besides. High 5/10. 4) Dino Hunt, Admiral Jota. I hate Barney the purple dinosaur, but the idea of a treasuer hunt was fun, and the XYZZY reply was pretty similar to mine. 5/10. 5) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, &c. by Jason McWright. Nice title, but fairly repetitive gameplay, and there were too many dropped colons (I know I'm nitpicking, but it annoys me...) 6) Dinosaur Dinnertime, Dave Clydesdale. WANT FOOD! C'mon, put a little more meat on these bones and we might have a winner. Four. Sorry 'bout that. 4/10

LOW-END: (0 to 3): 1) Why Did The Dino Cross The Road? by Richard Bos. I didn't ask. Would've probably liked this much more if I hadn't played all the Chicken-Comp games ages ago. 3/10. And finally - 2) D2D by Simon Lamont. Simon must be laughing his head off somewhere, thinking of the royal screwing he's given every sucker who played this game. Er, just kidding. But any game that ends on a 3-move daemon isn't really going to win friends and influence people. 1/10.

NOT RATED: A Stegosaur's Night Out, because I wrote it, and Encryptment, because I suck at cryptic crosswords.

Congratulations to all the authors! My picks for the top prize - if there is one - Tony, Aris or Robb. Well done, folks. Keep the short and silly ones a-comin'!

This article copyright © 2000, Quentin D. Thompson

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