Brass Lantern Marno IFComp 2004 Reviews

MARNO'S GAME REVIEWS

by Marno

Posted 16 November 2004 to rec.games.int-fiction

My first time judging. I only played seven games, and am looking forward to replaying some of them and playing others that get good reviews.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SUPERHERO

I liked the general sense of the game. I couldn't determine for sure whether the hero was really super-powered or just a kid with a fired-up imagination, but that was okay. As I played the game, though, I got rather tired of the wordiness of every description of every thing. Whether it was important to the game or not, every thing was given the same weight in description, which I found too much. I could tell that the author put a lot of work into it, but the descriptions just seemed OVER-worked to me. I also personally felt lost with so many directions to go in. I don't like exploring games so much if there is not some sort of hint as to which way to go.

After 1 hour of play I decided to quit and scored this game a 6.

01

I really wanted to see a good game here, because I am interested in ALAN 3. But this game is not a good game at all. Written in the span of a week, was it even beta-tested? I am sure it was not. Weak in descriptions, verbs, etc., not to mention it gave me no reason to play it, except that it was included in the Comp. I quit this game as soon as getting out of the cell.

After 10 minutes of play I scored this game (as I have no doubt others will do as well): 01.

LUMINOUS HORIZON

Wonderful! Fun! I enjoyed the comic feelies, which really helped me get the sense of the game. I got stuck in the hangar and could not figure what to do next within the 2 hours, so I will have to come back to the game later to finish it. I scored this game a 10.

ZERO

Great graphic at the introduction! I have to say that the numerous misspellings and poor punctuation continually disturbed me. A lot.

>talk to the king
I don't recognize that sentence.

Hmm. Not even a "The king doesn't feel like talking right now." Quite a few unrecognized objects and such referred to in the game but unrecognized at all with simple "look at" commands.

*Keeping with santoonie tradition, there is no walkthru.*

I have to wonder if, in keeping with santoonie tradition, there was no beta- testing.

"But," [santoonie continues] "to assist reviewers, a general strategy is included herein: Zero is made up of two parts, gather and hunt. During the gather stage, within the goblin lair, you must find specific items and place them in specific spots, then examine them after placement to activate additional items. It is required to visit same locations over and over again. The hunt stage is more railroaded, hints not required."

No thank you, not in a Comp. Frankly, I would have given it more of a try if the spelling had been better. But I reasoned that if the spelling and grammar were not worked out, then perhaps the puzzles were not worked out either. After 20 minutes of play I scored this game a 2 (that's down 2 from 4 for the poor spelling and grammar).

REDEYE (Spoiler)

Another game without benefit of beta-testing, it appears. Bad grammar and spelling again. And I can't see the letters as I type! Is the game using a black command font on the black background? The first location of the game says there's a hotel, a store and a highway.

>x hotel
I don't know the word "hotel".

>x store
I don't know the word "store".

>x highway
I don't know the word "highway".

Not good.

Totally needed the walkthru for the game. For example, "In the jailcell. Examine the wash basin. You will find a plastic cup. Fill it with water from the basin." How would I have known this? There is no water, no faucet, nothing like that described in the game. I had to "fill the cup," but where the water came from I don't know. Supposedly from the basin. After throwing the water on the floor as instructed by the walkthru, the game froze up. The cursor flashed, but wouldn't accept any further commands. Just as well. After an hour of play I scored this game a 4. I'd like to take away a point for the foul language, but I was warned about it, so I'll leave it at that.

PTBAD3

Does that stand for "pret-tee bad"? Bad spelling, wrong words and such that tell me the game was not beta-tested. I wanted to TALK TO an NPC and the game said "I don't know the word 'talk.'" Not good. And no walkthrough. And "I don't know the word 'hint.' I don't know the word 'help.'" So after fifteen minutes of play I scored this game a 2.

A LIGHT'S TALE

I guessed from the ESV quote and the "light and darkness" theme that there was an underlying spiritual theme. I looked forward to this theme's unfolding. But I felt that the game eventually got mired in the mundane and ordinary. Spelling and grammar were very good, I was happy to see that. And game play worked well. So after one hour of play I score this game a 5.