The idea of feverishly going over the story again and again trying to avoid the catastrophe at the end is not bad. Unfortunately, Grief is devoid of any emotions, which makes it a rather dull exercise in elementary combinatorics for the player.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (03 Dec 2008)

Grief.z8 (281.00 KB)

Z-code 8 executable (version: 1)

A short demo for the CYOA development system the author has written, intended to teach the player how to interact with this system. Barely has any value as a game, though.

Rating: *

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (03 Dec 2008)

walkthru.txt (334 bytes)

walkthrough by the author

nodex.ini (22 bytes)

INI file

nxi.exe (57.50 KB)

Windows executable

READ ME FIRST !!!.txt (358 bytes)

note from the author

A vengeance story with a twist (in this case, the last wod almost can be taken literally). Balances between three and four stars. The factora that finally turned the scale were several non-crucial bugs, the possibility to lock oneself out of victory without sufficient warning, and the inclusion of adult content without any indication either in the game itself or in the accompanying materials. Plus, it wasn't easy for me to identify myself with the protagonist.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (06 Dec 2008)

ABrokenMan.t3 (560.00 KB)

TADS 3 executable

walkthrough.cmd (1.22 KB)

Walkthrough

The opening scene of Recess At Last is very promising - well-written, atmospheric, and refreshing. The game itself, however, doesn't live up to these promises: the story turns out to be disappointingly straightforward and uncomplicated, and the puzzles - almost trivial. The game world seems to be developed pretty detailed (in spite of a few minor issues), but the player doesn't seem to have a sufficient motivation to explore it.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (06 Dec 2008)

recess.gblorb (696.08 KB)

Glulx executable (version: 1)

recess.txt (739 bytes)

solution

A mixed bag. On one hand, there are rather many examples of pretty nice characterisation scattered all over the game; on the other hand, the story makes not too much sense, and the puzzles are nearly impossible.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (06 Dec 2008)

Magic.t3 (645.89 KB)

TADS 3 executable (version: 1.01)

walkthru.cmd (1.52 KB)

walkthrough

walkthru.txt (1.46 KB)

walkthrough

A thoughtful piece thoroughly discussing the prevalence of family values over professional obligations...

Seriously, though, it's just a rather unambitious get-out-of-the-locked-room game. The parser takes you back to the pre-Infocom era, and so do the puzzles. There is no saving/restoring in this game; fortunately, it's pretty short, and seemingly can't be put into an unwinnable state.

Rating: **

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (06 Dec 2008)

mechanique (3.00 KB)

MechaniQue directory

nerdquest.xbook (19.28 KB)

Java executable (requires MechaniQue files)

nerdquestwalkthru.pdf (15.07 KB)

walkthrough

readme.txt (251 bytes)

note from the author

runme.bat (37 bytes)

batch file to start the game

You are a tourist who wants to dine at a cafe in Paris. However, you need to make the garçon turn his precious attention to you first...

This is a puzzle-oriented game, and the puzzles are great indeed. The setting is fine and pretty atmospheric. My main disappointment were the characters: the author depicted them so vividly I expected them to be more like real people, but, as it turned out later, they mostly were just obstacle- and puzzle-providing dummies.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (06 Dec 2008)

April_In_Paris.t3 (746.05 KB)

TADS 3 executable (version: 1.0)

cafe_map.pdf (33.46 KB)

map

Paris_readme.txt (76 bytes)

note from the author

You're in a sleazy bar (OK, that's a rip-off from Softporn Adventure)... But you didn't come here to have a drink or entertain yourself - you are a health inspector on duty.

The game has its highs; in particular, I enjoyed the seemingly unending train of health code violations the protagonist can note. But there are pretty many lows, as well - mainly "what a moron" moments regarding the main villain, occasional glitches in writing, and minor bugs. The aforementioned... uhm... not the brightest behaviour of the NPCs considerably spoils the otherwise interesting and not unoriginal plot idea. Still, Afflicted gets its four stars, albeit at a little stretch.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (15 Dec 2008)

Afflicted walkthru.txt (1.13 KB)

walkthrough

afflicted.z8 (319.00 KB)

Z-code 8 executable (version: 1)

The game has a rather atmospheric horror setting, but boy is it underimplemented. Most actions resulted in an (often very confusing) default response, there are very few objects to manipulate in every location, and the descriptions are ultra-short. Besides, the game seems to not have been beta-tested thoroughly. Those issues are the more a pity, since the writing manages to be quite effective, and the puzzles are mostly OK.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (17 Dec 2008)

lucuwalkthru.txt (461 bytes)

walkthrough

The Lucubrator.z5 (187.00 KB)

Z-code 5 executable (version: 1)

This is basically a one-joke game, but it wins over the player's heart by heaps of style, and flawless implementation. It also has a very satisfactory ending.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (18 Dec 2008)

cheeseshop.z5 (83.50 KB)

Z-code 5 executable (version: 2)

This work addresses a really serious theme - holocaust. It's always a risky and difficult thing to do; however, the author managed to find a right tone for his game, and coped with his task well enough, avoiding sliding into histrionics or telling commonplaces. On the other hand, Buried In Shoes fails to form an integral picture, remaining a set of detached scenes - each of them moving, but not necessarily meaningful.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (20 Dec 2008)

bishoes.z5 (72.00 KB)

Z-code 5 executable (version: 3)

biswalk.txt (560 bytes)

walkthrough

README.txt (271 bytes)

note from the author