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DELRON
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Ideal Pacific Coast University Reviews
Author: NewKid
Date: 2005
TADS 3
What does AIF stand for? Adult Interactive Fiction.
If you likely to
be offended by games with sexual content, you are advised not
to open these
files.
Reviewed by Grimm Sharlak
Basic Plot:
As the leader of Alpha Beta Omega, a University fraternity that has spent four
long years off campus due to struggling grades and bad behaviour. This year,
however, you swear to get your fraternity reinstated, no matter what the
evil Pi Pi Pi house and the elusive Dean have to say about it!
Overall Thoughts:
Do I even need to review this game? This follow up to the classic Ideal New
England Prep School (HI) has been eagerly anticipated ever since NewKid
announced its pending release, and it has generated more talk before and after
release than any game in recent memory. It lives up to the hype, and is a
great game, with tough but logical puzzles and not only hot, but innovative sex
scenes with well formed characters. It certainly lives up to the name of
“Ideal”.
Puzzles/Gameplay:
The main puzzle you will face in this game is “how do I get Alpha Beta Omega
reinstated?” From this overriding task, you discover smaller puzzles to help you
along the way, such as organising a party to grab new members, or helping fellow
frat members with their studies. NewKid has managed to make the majority of
puzzles relate straight back to the player’s main motivation. This means the
player never truly feels lost, or more importantly, has to ask “why am I doing
this?” Aiding the player in solving the frat puzzle is an in-game character who
will basically give you a laundry list of what you need to achieve.
One early gripe with the game was the size of the play area. IPCU doesn’t
feature just your campus, but also a downtown area and an opposing University’s
campus. As TADS has no map feature, some found themselves getting lost easily.
However, this could be solved through extended play (I could find my way through
the game blindfolded these days) or by having a look at the map that
fellatrix_uk kindly provided. If you have yet to play IPCU, download the map as
well to avoid some early frustration.
The puzzles themselves, as stated, are fairly logical, and quite clever in
places. The only problems I had were with the finding the tequila, and making
money, which leads me one of the only other real gripes with the game. Money is
a driving force in one of the games larger events, and the only source is
working for a certain party. However, if you have money on you when you visit
said party, they won’t answer the door and therefore won’t give you any work.
So, you drop your money somewhere, so you can go get it later, right? No dice.
The money disappears when you drop it, which is quite frustrating when first
encountered. It turns out that this is by design (NewKid apparently doesn’t want
you to have more than a certain amount of money at once), and it is not
difficult to return to the source for more money when you run out
Outside of this, however, the game plays like a dream. There is little to no
guessing of verbs, and there aren’t really superfluous items or red herrings to
cloud the issue. There is also a decent learning curve in the game, with early
tasks being fairly straightforward, while the deeper into the game you get, the
more difficult and complex the puzzles become.
Sex:
Well! Anyone who’s played previous NewKid games knows that he writes some
excellent sex scenes, involving excellent female characters. The sex scenes in
the game
are often quite good, and at times quite humorous as well; Professor Bird and
Bettina immediately spring to mind. NewKid has also brought some innovation to
the sex scenes as well, with different positions eliciting different results.
While this makes it slightly harder to score maximum points, it keeps the sex
varied and interesting, and considering how many sexual encounters are in this
game, that’s no small feat.
Technical:
I’ve already mentioned the money, which can feel like a bug, and outside of that
I found no real technical issues. NewKid has pulled off some great programming
with the different positions of the players affecting the sex scene, and found
no errors in that regard, so the overall technical implementation is good.
Intangibles:
Along with the fairly common “What’s your name?” at the start of the game, you
can also enter your frat nickname; while it isn’t used very often by characters
in the game, you set it each time you start up, so you can have some fun with
coming up with ridiculous nicknames. Wombat calling me “Balls” was a highlight,
that’s for sure.
Final Thoughts:
NewKid has returned from a long absence with a great AIF game. Logical puzzles
and straightforward gameplay aren’t always thought of as essential in AIF, but
IPCU has these two attributes along with solid characterisation, innovative sex
scenes and hot women to have them with. Not to mention a true challenge if
you’re aiming for the full score.
Now, NewKid, we need a version where you can get with Sarah!
Rating: A
Reviews should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors.
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