This game represents a more or less classic treasure hunt, set up in (as far as I can judge) a pretty accurate replication of the school the author presumably studies/works at. Since the rooms outnumber the puzzles by far, the gameplay mostly consists of rambling through a vast number of locations in search for something interesting, which automatically makes this adventure not very appealing for ousiders (although it might be just great for teachers/pupils of the said school). Provided for one of the biggest disappointments I ever had playing a competition entry: there was a magic map that presumably would let the player travel to any location of the rather entangled game world by a single mouse click. When I found the map, it didn't work.

Rating: **

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (28 Sep 2007)

School.gam (331.53 KB)

TADS executable (version: 1)

schoolwalk.txt (3.12 KB)

Walkthrough

You play a werewolf detective investigating a mysterious massacre of a whole village. The author manages to use some of the unsual features of his PC to the game's benefit. Unfortunately, this work also suffers from underimplementations, the worst of which are the absolutely contrived characters.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (28 Sep 2007)

CDST.zblorb (339.99 KB)

Z-code executable (version: 1)

The game features a potentially solid (albeit somewhat second-hand) horror plot; however, the overall structure chosen for it means a lot of character interaction, and this, unfortunately, is the point where this work fails entirely. The meta-puzzle "guess what input the author made the half dozen NPCs react to" barely can be solved without the (thankfully enclosed) walkthrough. The two endings implied by the game title turn out to be a misdirection, as well: there's only one winning path through the game.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (28 Sep 2007)

FightorFlight.sol (1.55 KB)

Walkthrough

FightorFlight.z8 (264.00 KB)

Z-code 8 executable (version: 1)

Basically a bunch of logical puzzles (where "logical" means "related to formal logic") held together by a (hair-thin) plot thread. The problems one has to solve vary in difficulty from "tough" to "Aw! Impossible!", and made personally me think the enclosed walkthrough was a blessing. Can only be recommended to real fans of that kind of puzzle.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (28 Sep 2007)

labhints.html (1.49 KB)

Some high-level hints to help you avoid the walkthrough

labwalk.html (4.03 KB)

Walkthrough

labyrinth.z8 (115.50 KB)

Z-code 8 executable (version: 1)

A very solid work, with the PC captured in Madam Spider's house. Uses an old-school approach to the design of most game elements, including the NPCs, which, however, doesn't prevent the latter from being "alive". Could even receive five stars from me if its main plot twist wasn't so overused.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (28 Sep 2007)

MadamSpider.z5 (162.50 KB)

Z-code 5 executable (version: 1)

SpiderWalkthru.txt (3.29 KB)

Walkthrough

A mystic detective story. The plot as such is solid enough, but the game uses too many barely interactive sequences, and tends to degrade into CYOA too often. Would work much better as a conventional story it seems.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (28 Sep 2007)

requiem.taf (112.07 KB)

Adrift executable

One of the most pessimistic games of the Competition. Features a self-made parser, which isn't too advanced; however, the game manages to circumvent its limitations pretty well. Not really a masterpiece, but pretty effective in its own way (although it's still not enough for a rating of three stars).

Rating: **

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (28 Sep 2007)

fixed_objects (26.71 KB)

A supporting file

game (3.27 KB)

A supporting file

Initial_State.exe (256.00 KB)

Main executable. Requires all supporting files to run.

mobile_objects (14.08 KB)

A supporting file

rooms (14.64 KB)

A supporting file

verbs (405 bytes)

A supporting file