ADRIFT Forum

Here are my reviews for each game entered into the competition...

ASDFA by davidw
I didn't play this through to completion, but it looked to be fairly well written, and had quite a few funny parts in it. I'm not sure about the whole concept of the game - some kind of wierd dream - and what the whole point to it was, but then again, it was only made in an hour. And I've also not played many of the 'Damn Fantasy Adventure' series, so maybe I'm just missing something. Good, though. 7/10.

The Revenge of Clueless Bob Newbie by davidw
This was quite funny, as well. I must admit that I prefered The Worst Game In the World... Ever! to this, but it was still a funny concept and pleasant to play. The same goes for Part 2: This Time It's Personal, but I rated the first one higher because it was the first one I played and I thought it was more novel than the second. Part 1: 7/10. Part 2: 6/10.

That Crazy Radioactive Monkey! by Mel S
Crazy, and very inventive, but not my cup of tea. The descriptions were okay, and the whole idea of it was slightly insane, however, I can't say that I enjoyed it too much - mainly because I like to be guided through a game, and don't like having a load of options available for me to take in several rooms full of objects, then keep getting told I can't do certain things. 5/10.

Apprentice of the Demonhunter by the Mad Monk
I liked this one alot. The descriptions were very good, and although they were slightly brief at times, I found that they created vivid impressions in my mind. A very interesting and enjoyable game, the only problems that there wasn't that much to do, and it was quite short. I still really liked it, however. 8/10.

The Curse of the Revenge of the Ghost of the Evil Chicken of Doom...Returns! by Mel S
As with his previous entry, this is a bit too crazy for me. The sentence at the beginning made me laugh, though: " The eater of the chicken was heard to exclaim 'This chicken tastes much more evil than usual'". It was quite varied, but I've always thought v3.90 was a bit flawed compared to v4, so I didn't particularly like it that much. Still alright for an hour, though, so: 6/10.

Just my Imagination - Musings of a Child by Mystery
An interesting introduction, but I found myself getting a bit confused as to who I was at the beginning. There was also some GTV which grounded me, but it got a bit better after that. Seemed to be short, the writing was okay, and the concept was unusual. I rate it: 6/10.

The Pyramid of Hamaratum by KF
A short and simple adventure, with slightly flawed grammar, and a concept that wasn't quite interesting to hold my attention. However, everything worked fine, the descriptions were quite good, and overall, it wasn't that bad. 5/10.

Quest for Flesh by Tech
I didn't really understand this game, and even after looking at it in the Generator, I didn't understand how to complete it. The writing, however, was quite good, and apart from a few gruesome situations, I thought it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't clued enough, and there was quite alot of GTV. 5/10.

The Farthest Shore by Stewart J. McAbney
My favourite entry, soley because of the descriptions. No, I didn't understand what it was about at all, but the descriptions were very atmospheric and it felt like a good, enjoyable game to play. I had a problem with interacting with the cow and the basket description, and I didn't understand why feeding the cow should help you get rescued, but I liked it for the atmosphere. 9/10.

Doom Cat!! by Eric Mayer
I actually thought this game was good. Granted, the concept was nonsense, the descriptions were minimal, and the puzzles were stupid, but I still had fun playing it, which counts for quite alot. I particularly liked the ending. I give it 7/10.


Please post your own below...

Apprentice of The Demonhunter - Mad Monk

For a game written in just an hour, this had a surprising amount of depth and there was a genuine sense of unease as my demonhunter character wandered about the ruined village. The mood was further heightened by some atmospheric locations.

The only bad point from my point of view was the kind of jokey style of writing which conflicted with the general feel of the game: comedy and horror seldom mix well and here was an example where it didn't.

That minor qualm aside, AOTD was a great little game and I'm hoping the writer rewrites it as a full size game one day. It certainly has potential.

8 out of 10


The Curse of the Revenge of the Ghost of the Evil Chicken of Doom Returns! - Mel S

The title was about the most normal thing about this game which was, if anything, even crazier than the original.

The evil chicken of doom has returned and only YOU can stop it. The hows of completing the game are pretty much explained right at the start and it's then left to you to figure out exactly how to do them. A few guess the verb problems arose but these were relatively minor and didn't spoil the game one bit.

For a one hour game, there were a huge amount of clever ideas used here and more than a few laugh out loud moments (the Smell-O-Matic being particularly hilarious). A contender with "Doom Cat" for funniest ever one hour game.

7 out of 10


Doom Cat - Eric Mayer

Undoubtedly the maddest game in the comp (and I'm saying that despite the fact that I've not played them all yet), this was sheer lunacy from start to finish.

Your cat is ticking. Yep. Ticking. So you need to find a way to dispose of it before it explodes and kills you.

Saying any more would spoil the game and this is a little gem of a game that you don't want spoiling; the ending is hilarious (I think I almost wet myself when reading the cat's message). It would be difficult to review the style of writing used here but the widely varying font sizes added a further mad element to the proceedings.

Funny, mad, great.

7 out of 10


That Crazy Radioactive Monkey - Mel S

I'm not sure if I should be liking this game or being horrified over the idea of a gameshow where the audience wet themselves with laughter whenever you injure your poor co-star, Jojo! Reality TV has nothing on this game for sheer twisted novelty value.

There were quite a few laugh out loud moments, mostly whenever you figured out a new and unusual way of hurting Jojo. I'll say one thing for the writer: he's sure got a warped sense of humour (although I guess the same could be said for me as I found it very funny indeed).

One of Mel's usual problems - guess the verb - was the game's only real letdown. "Take" had to be used on one item but "get" wouldn't work, and quite a few of the Jojo-murdering-tasks were pretty much trial and error. And this game also contains the weirdest line I've ever read in an IF game: "Small springs stick out of the couch like weirdos at a mall."

But bad points aside this was well worth playing.

6 out of 10


The Farthest Shore - Stewart J. McAbney

A very well written game, although one without any real point to it as far as I could see. Indeed, it can be completed (if that's the right word) in a mere three moves. There are others things to do during the course of the game - wander around the island you are shipwrecked on, feed a cow - but these are pretty much just filler and make no difference to the ending or the way the game plays.

As an exercise in writing it was certainly well done but I couldn't help but feel that it was a wasted opportunity.

5 out of 10


Quest For Flesh - Tech

Despite being well written, I couldn't get into this game at all. There seemed to be precious little to do and the only tasks involved eating a cat and a man. It also seemed to be one of those strange games that didn't have a proper ending - the player leaves the start location and dies. A couple of events - the cat and the man - give you a boost to your score but are unable to prevent the inevitable ending. The word "pointless" sprang to mind a few times while I was playing.

In a way it's a pity this game isn't better because the idea behind it seemed like a good one. Unfortunately it wasn't very well executed and left me feeling that, for this author, an hour just wasn't long enough to write a proper game.

4 out of 10


Just My Imagination, Musings of a Child - Mystery

I couldn't really say I liked this game but it had a kind of charm that was amusing for the time I spent playing it (not long - it was a very small game in a competition of small games).

Puzzles were nice and easy to solve and none required any great deal of effort to figure out. The standard of writing was fairly okay throughout although the opening paragraphs could certainly have done with some tidying up as far as punctuation was concerned.

Amusing for five minutes but not much longer.

4 out of 10


Forum 2 - Woodfish

All in all I didn't enjoy this game anywhere near as much as "Forum" - it was better written but lacked the inspired craziness of the former game and while I'm sure it was intended as a comedy game it didn't come across as comical for the most part. And as for the ending... well, the less said the better. Strange just doesn't describe it.

So... better writing than the first game but a far lesser game overall.

4 out of 10


The Pyramid of Hamaratum - KF

Even for an hour, this was a remarkably small and straightforward game. It basically involvespicking up one object and putting it somewhere - and that's it! There are no real puzzles along the way.

Unfortunately grammtical errors abound and aren't helped by the style of writing which was a lot less fluent than I would have expected.

A first effort but, unfortunately, not a particularly memorable one.

3 out of 10


Saffire - Woodfish

The writer's liking for strange games seems to have hit a low here. "Saffire" started off quite promisingly - you're backed up against a wall with a gunman closing in - but then goes rapidly downhill. I'm not quite sure what to make of what happens after that but it certainly wasn't anything I found very likeable.

"Saffire" came across as a very non-user-friendly game that didn't even have a hint or two for when the player got stuck.

3 out of 10