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DELRON
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South Beach Rum Runner Reviews
Author: The Risque' Floridian
Date: 1993
TADS
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 Kastier
Plot synopsis:
You're a Floridian (a resident of Florida) out at a café drinking Rum Runners.
Rum Runners as most Floridians know, have an unusual effect on the libido. But
it's time to take a walk on the beach and try to find someone to spend some time
with.
Writing + Plot:
After my last couple reviews (Wuz, Passion Pit, Cruisin), and knowing the track
record of early AIF games up to this point, I was expecting a turkey when I
went to run this game. What I got instead was a game that surprised me for its
quality. Short of Voyeur, this game gets the prize for being the best written
of the short list of pre-1995 AIF games.
Rum-Runner does have some occasional spelling and grammatical errors. They're
scattered throughout the game, but The Risque Floridian (hereafter TRF) makes
up for them with a fairly hot sex scene that's well written, if, at the same
time, very linear.
There was clearly a lot of time and effort put into the writing because it flows
together so well, making the unlike many games where the sex scenes are
choppy little sequences that don't fit together well. Rum-Runner's feels more
like an actual encounter than most AIF games. It's written well enough that at
the end you wish there were more.
Be warned though, the sexual encounter does not contain the normal sexual
intercourse of most games, focusing, rather, on kissing and touching by the PC
with hints of Dominance. It must have been the author's kink. For the most part
though, it's not that overplayed, so doesn't feel oppressive.
On to the plot. While the goal of the game was to get lucky, there were some
hints of something strange goings on, that when you're finished, you almost
wish could be followed up on. The sad part is that Rum-Runner was clearly
intended to be a longer game. The author says as much when you finish it. It
was released as a demo of sorts, and then never followed up on. Honestly,
considering AIF's earlier track record, this isn't as surprise, though it is a
slight disappointment.
My only complaint is that like many early AIF games, descriptions of rooms,
objects and items (including NPCs) in this game are sorely lacking. They tend
to be sparse and unimaginative. The sex scene is great, but when I look at the
NCP I'm having fun with, I want more than,
"She has short blonde hair, nice shapely legs, ample, firm breasts, that appear
to be real, and a derriere most women would die for!"
Score: 7
Technical (design + programming):
As an early AIF game written in TADS, Rum Runner is surprisingly sound aside
from a few minor issues. I didn't encounter any bugs, and the sexual encounter
was surprisingly well constructed for such an old game.
I suspect it works because unlike newer games in which a player has a lot of
control over what sex act they can perform with an NPC, the sexual encounter is
very scripted. You're more or less led by the hand and told what to do next.
Surprisingly, this method isn't as restrictive as it sounds because the scenes
are written well enough that they push you into the next action. And there are a
lot of actions to do as well. The only problem with this method is that if
the player does with to try something else, you get told you're moving too fast,
or get a stock reply for that action.
On the downside, there are a few minor game construction issues here. TRF chose
to skimp on making objects for things he describes in his room
descriptions. I can't stand that. If you say there's a café table or a towel in
the room, I want to be able to look at it. It really isn't THAT hard to make
objects in TADS. I know, I've done it.
There also are some issues with synonyms. I got a little annoyed when typing
"touch" or "feel" got me error messages, but "rub" worked fine.
Another issue is that you can break the game with one of your actions right at
the beginning of the game. The only way to end the game after that is to kill
yourself. Not very exciting way to end the game at all.
None of these are huge issues, though their existence does distract from the
game experience a little.
Score: 6
Entertainment Factor:
For a game written in 1993, Rum-Runner is quite entertaining. The sex scenes are
well written, the programming is more or less technically sound, and the
game progression was extremely well executed. As mentioned earlier, the fluidity
of the sex scene makes for a stronger sequence than most AIF games
provide.
I just wish it hadn't been so short.
Score: 7
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The Last Word:
Rum Runner is pretty good, far better than any of the games of its era, except
for Voyeur, with really is a very different type of game.
Kastier's ranking: 6.6 out of 10
Reviews should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors.
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