Review - Vulse

Vulse... Hmm... I don't really know what that means. It's possible that my vocabulary is about to be expanded or maybe it's just a made-up name or word. Either way, to say I'm nervous is an understatement. I really don't know if I like these web based hyper text games. Right after I published my last review I noticed that Emily Short had just reviewed the same game. And guess what? She thought it was pretty decent and a good example of the genre. Which then made me feel like a tool. Because, listen guys, who the hell am I to disagree with her, right? So now I'm just looking at this endless expanse of web-based games before me, the collection of which dwarfs the entries written on platforms I'm more used to and am more comfortable with, and I feel like an old man sitting on his porch looking at all of these young whippersnappers with their fancy i-whatsits and google-mabobers and I just want things to back the way they used to be when I understand the way the world worked : "And God created the Parser and Saw That It Was Good. And God Divided the World into the Screen and the Keyboard and There was Darkness and a High Probability of Being Eaten By a Grue."

So maybe I was too harsh on old "Who Among Us". Perhaps it was not the piece itself I was upset by, it was the fact that this "new" (ha!) hypertext format is not something I'm used to and I'm resistant to change. But... hey, it's not like I'm going to STOP being an unpleasant curmudgeon, amirite? So let's check out Vulse and see if I can open my rigid little mind a moment enough to hopefully let something beautiful enter it. Or barring "beautiful" I'd be pretty pleased with "competent" at this point.

Quick Take Review: Expertly written interactive poem. 

Review - Who Among Us

What a title, amirite? Who Among Us hasn't stared forlornly at the blank computer screen waiting for the muses to will a perfect title into our heads and onto the page? Who Among Us hasn't had trepidation over doing another Web based game and hoped against hope that it won't be another hypertext choose your own adventure story? Who Among Us didn't love those books when we were kids, spending hours in the library flipping from one page to the other, trying not to die countless horrible deaths over and over again, and Who Among Us didn't outgrow that phase and start playing Interactive Fiction because of the word "Interactive"? Who Among Us doesn't love a rhetorical a question? Anyway, let's hope my fears will be allayed and this will be awesome. Fingers crossed!!

Quick Take Review: Basically an interactive version of And Then There Were None... or wait, I mean a NON-interactive version.

Review - Mrs. Wobbles and the Tangerine House

Okay, first of all: I think we can all agree this is a pretty amazing title. This is like one of those creative writing exercise prompts. Who is Mrs. Wobbles? Why does she live in a giant tangerine? Why is she constantly sipping gin out of a vitamin water bottle? Is that why she's so wobbly? So many questions!! Also, this is my first web game. Well, to be fair this is my first game in the entire competition. I've got a bunch of unbridled enthusiasm that I'm sure will wear away like a pencil eraser until my spirits has been rubbed to the point of being a black smudged nub of its former self. BUT... until that happens (I'm guessing by game four) let the frivolities begin! Let's DO THIS.

Quick take: Very cute hypertext game that is unabashedly written for readers who still own their first set of teeth.

Full review after the jump!

Once More Into the Breach

Attention IF Authors: This is the scary mime that's about to review your work.

Oh man, guys. Oh. man. It's been a long time. Too long. How have you been? Husband and kids fine? Hmm? Oh good. Okay, stop talking.

I think it's been roughly two to three YEARS since I last played IF. I have missed it. But, you know, not enough to actually get myself caught up. Long story short, two years ago I left the barren wastelands of Wyoming for the barren wastelands of Boston. I kid. I love it here. Been doing an awful lot of theater. This is a picture of my getting into makeup for the last show I did, a ribald production of The Libertine by Steven Jeffreys. I present it here to show you that though time has passed, I still have no sense of dignity.

Anyway, I've been bouncing from show to show to show (as is my wont) and now I've got a TEENY break between now and my next show and I noticed it's October. You can tell it's an old fashioned New England autumn because the temperature's dipped into the 70s. (thanks Climate Change!) And do you know what October means??? That's right! The annual IF Comp! So here's the plan: I'm going to start playing and reviewing the games (in the good old reverse alphabetical order) and posting those reviews on this blog until I play through them all, or more likely get distracted by the middle of the month and abandon this blog for another half decade. Either way: EVERYONE WINS!

So, stay tuned for reviews! The only thing I'll have to say is that you step away from the comp for a couple of years and you come back to find out that everyone's been writing "Web" based games. How has this happened? What do Web based game even mean? This is a brave new world we're living in. At least there are a bunch of Glulx entries. And there's even someone who's still writing TADs games! Aww...

IF Comp 2012 Review - The Test is Now READY

Okay boys and goils, we're back in the realm of traditional IF! Parsers! Z-code! Blue background and white font! Ahh, the memories. And I like the title. It puts me a bit in mind of the Portal series, which despite involving some reflexes and the necessity of shooting a "gun", I deeply loved. Both for being wonderfully exciting puzzle experiences and also for being probably the funniest and most well-acted games I've played since Grim Fandango. (I love you Grim. I'll never forget!!!) Anyways, let's see what this game is all about, shall we? I have to say: love the title.

Final Verdict: Interesting experience. Not quite a game. More like an interactive narrative morality test. But definitely intriguing.

IF Comp 2012 Review - Transit

Uh oh, guys. It's another web one. I've got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The last one... not so good... not so comprehensible if you catch what I'm saying. But I shall keep an open mind. Lord knows there's been a lot of dreck written for Z-code and TADS while obviously there have been many many great games written for those platforms as well. I can't generalize about a medium based on one sample. What would Nate Silver say?? Anyway, let's see if we find Transit a "moving" experience. Yuk. Yuk. Yuk.

Final Verdict : A fun if slight game. However much better than I was expecting. Definitely a decent example of competent CYOA.

IF Comp 2012 Review - Valkyrie

Hmm, a curious start to the competition. Now granted, I've been out of the loop for roughly two years now, but this I think this is the first entry in a comp that I've had to play online... (maybe I'm wrong about that... I'm trying to remember) More than that this game is not alone. There are seven games in the same category, easily besting Tads which only has one. (Sad face emoticon) Oh well. I really have no expectations about this one. Let's see what happens. Full review after the jump! 

Non spoilery Final Verdict: Only comprehensible if you follow a very specific tree line. Otherwise it plays like a game written in the style of E.E. Cummings with a 12 year old boy's imagination.