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cobaltnineToday's review, a bit delayed, is for Rogue of the Multiverse, by C.E.J. Pacian.
Today's digression has nothing to do with the game itself, but an observation I'm going to make instead: I haven't read one other review of any games yet. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't like to read them before I've played them, of course, and I've been playing in drips and drabs. Today's game I finished two days ago, but I had a clinical shift over the weekend and a test this morning and....well, that's why I'm in the library now sounding productive, with all this typing, and actually writing up my review now. Starting Halloween weekend I get my weekend back at the expense of part of my week, so we'll see if that becomes more or less productive for the last 2-3 weeks that judging is still open.
I had this idea, what with the term 'Multiverse', that it was going to be distinctly fantasy. Specifically a kind of Moorcock fantasy, really. Hero, thief-type, of course, running around being all...multiversal, mutable, and so on, with a common thread. I suppose that at the end there's a touch of that. There's actually not that much variation in some ways, and a delightful amount in others.
The short version of this review would come down to my liking this game for its tone, the characters, the setting, and story, but it didn't feel like that much of a game. It reminds me a bit more of a choose your own adventure. I wish I'd put more save states in, since I'd like to go back and see what happens if I don't get the equipment for the revolution; I'll go ahead and guess that the game wouldn't progress until you give Sola the right equipment, or that it would force it to go ahead anyway. Or, possibly, that you'd die somehow horribly. I just don't see any big branches on the main storyline; that's okay, but on reflection I'd really only be replaying for the fun of the dialogue, to see what reactions I'd get. But I do want to replay it, even though I can't entirely justify it. There's definitely interactivity, especially in the tagging scenes, but I don't think there's much to do to change the outcome. Again, not that this is bad, and it didn't occur to me while I was playing, but it does now.
My notes for this state the setting is 'Mieville-esque.' I think it's all the xeno, all the non-monkey sentient beings; the steampunky vibe I got from a few locations didn't hurt that sense. The writing was enjoyable. I don't know if you can find out what crime you committed, but the rare but present repeats of 'oh, wow, you did, huh, that,' was intriguing and, more importantly, done with the correct pacing and frequency.
On the technical side: I didn't encounter any problems, and I want to just mention the handling of the equipment for the experiment beaming chamber. It made me individually deal with pieces once, and from then on, it automatically handled it. Delicious. Absolutely removed a chunk of the grind from a repeated task.
Right now - and I know I'm only a few games in - I think this one will get replayed a few times. The lack of significant branching doesn't give it much longevity, but I think it gives it enough to be an amusing diversion. Just make sure you create and label some good save states to avoid doing the more repetitious parts over again.
Today's digression has nothing to do with the game itself, but an observation I'm going to make instead: I haven't read one other review of any games yet. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't like to read them before I've played them, of course, and I've been playing in drips and drabs. Today's game I finished two days ago, but I had a clinical shift over the weekend and a test this morning and....well, that's why I'm in the library now sounding productive, with all this typing, and actually writing up my review now. Starting Halloween weekend I get my weekend back at the expense of part of my week, so we'll see if that becomes more or less productive for the last 2-3 weeks that judging is still open.
I had this idea, what with the term 'Multiverse', that it was going to be distinctly fantasy. Specifically a kind of Moorcock fantasy, really. Hero, thief-type, of course, running around being all...multiversal, mutable, and so on, with a common thread. I suppose that at the end there's a touch of that. There's actually not that much variation in some ways, and a delightful amount in others.
The short version of this review would come down to my liking this game for its tone, the characters, the setting, and story, but it didn't feel like that much of a game. It reminds me a bit more of a choose your own adventure. I wish I'd put more save states in, since I'd like to go back and see what happens if I don't get the equipment for the revolution; I'll go ahead and guess that the game wouldn't progress until you give Sola the right equipment, or that it would force it to go ahead anyway. Or, possibly, that you'd die somehow horribly. I just don't see any big branches on the main storyline; that's okay, but on reflection I'd really only be replaying for the fun of the dialogue, to see what reactions I'd get. But I do want to replay it, even though I can't entirely justify it. There's definitely interactivity, especially in the tagging scenes, but I don't think there's much to do to change the outcome. Again, not that this is bad, and it didn't occur to me while I was playing, but it does now.
My notes for this state the setting is 'Mieville-esque.' I think it's all the xeno, all the non-monkey sentient beings; the steampunky vibe I got from a few locations didn't hurt that sense. The writing was enjoyable. I don't know if you can find out what crime you committed, but the rare but present repeats of 'oh, wow, you did, huh, that,' was intriguing and, more importantly, done with the correct pacing and frequency.
On the technical side: I didn't encounter any problems, and I want to just mention the handling of the equipment for the experiment beaming chamber. It made me individually deal with pieces once, and from then on, it automatically handled it. Delicious. Absolutely removed a chunk of the grind from a repeated task.
Right now - and I know I'm only a few games in - I think this one will get replayed a few times. The lack of significant branching doesn't give it much longevity, but I think it gives it enough to be an amusing diversion. Just make sure you create and label some good save states to avoid doing the more repetitious parts over again.
