| Review: | You are a deep space explorer in distress who docks on an abandoned space
station seeking rescue. Structurally, DSD is split into two parts - the first
one taking place in the station itself, and the second - on the planet the
station is orbiting around. The first part has a nice (albeit non-exceptional
by modern standards) setting with not-too-hard puzzles (I'd got the feeling
they were intended as appetizers for the next part). The second section of
the game effectively is a sketchily implemented bunch of puzzles; the puzzles
themselves, however, are of top quality - very elaborate, logical, fun to
solve, and immensely satisfying.
The development process for DSD has been described by Mike Roberts in his TADS
manual, and I agree with him in that the entire game reflects its history. I'd
especially recommend it to beginning IF-authors, since it shows pretty clearly
that even a great authoring talent, and excellent programming skills won't
help you if you don't plan your work thoroughly.
Rating: ****
Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (14 Mar 2002)
|