IF Comp 2009: Snowquest
27 Oct 2009 22:44![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cobaltnineTitle: Snowquest
Author: Eric Eve
This one errs on a much more spoilery side than many of my reviews may.
C9-HFS-19 Scores
1. Technical: Full. Really, this should always be full, and the first few games I play ALWAYS make me put this section in. It's like the min 200 for standardized tests 'for putting your name in the right blank' and not eating the forms.
2. Writing: Grammar and Setting - settings? get full points. And the writing? Highest so far. I mentioned in another review how I wasn't quite clicking over into an emotional response. Here I did. Here I definitely did. I was charmed, intregued, had that slight moment of 'hmm...', and despaired, and was even somewhat fearful. One of my save files is named 'wtf.sav'. That being said, horribly enough, I almost want to accuse the ending of being rushed. I read the about, of course, and found that he really wanted to cram a lot in here; I don't disbelieve it. Any section of this could have been submitted as a mini-mini game, or any part of it could have been expanded into a stand-alone. But it wasn't, and although unexpected, it absolutely worked.
3. Puzzles: Funnily enough, only in the higher reaches of the middle. No alternate solutions here, although alternate endings did exist - all plausible ones, though.
4. Bonuses: +1 for making me run through several emotions, and for having plausible alternate endings, bad and good.
Submitted Score: 9
Summary: This kind of storytelling works only in pieces of experimental fiction (like 'In the Labyrinth') or in IF. This is a fantastic example of the latter, although the buildup is almost asking for the slightest hint of disappointment at the end. If you play for this experience, which isn't quite story-telling and isn't puzzle-solving, but stands on its own, and is exemplified by good works of IF, then this is a great example of this use of the medium.
Author: Eric Eve
This one errs on a much more spoilery side than many of my reviews may.
C9-HFS-19 Scores
1. Technical: Full. Really, this should always be full, and the first few games I play ALWAYS make me put this section in. It's like the min 200 for standardized tests 'for putting your name in the right blank' and not eating the forms.
2. Writing: Grammar and Setting - settings? get full points. And the writing? Highest so far. I mentioned in another review how I wasn't quite clicking over into an emotional response. Here I did. Here I definitely did. I was charmed, intregued, had that slight moment of 'hmm...', and despaired, and was even somewhat fearful. One of my save files is named 'wtf.sav'. That being said, horribly enough, I almost want to accuse the ending of being rushed. I read the about, of course, and found that he really wanted to cram a lot in here; I don't disbelieve it. Any section of this could have been submitted as a mini-mini game, or any part of it could have been expanded into a stand-alone. But it wasn't, and although unexpected, it absolutely worked.
3. Puzzles: Funnily enough, only in the higher reaches of the middle. No alternate solutions here, although alternate endings did exist - all plausible ones, though.
4. Bonuses: +1 for making me run through several emotions, and for having plausible alternate endings, bad and good.
Submitted Score: 9
Summary: This kind of storytelling works only in pieces of experimental fiction (like 'In the Labyrinth') or in IF. This is a fantastic example of the latter, although the buildup is almost asking for the slightest hint of disappointment at the end. If you play for this experience, which isn't quite story-telling and isn't puzzle-solving, but stands on its own, and is exemplified by good works of IF, then this is a great example of this use of the medium.
