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Buffy: Before the Date Reviews
Author: Archer
Date: 2011
ADRIFT 3.9
Reviewed by ExLibris
Buffy: Before the Date puts the player in the role of Xander, who Willow has
given the task of seducing Buffy. It's hard to work out at which point in the
series this game is supposed to be set. The readme says it's in the latter half
of season two, which is supported by the fact that Xander is on the swim team
and going out with Cordelia. But if Willow realised she liked girls that early
in the series (rather than in season 4) you have to explain why she spends most
of the next two seasons in a relationship with Oz. Another problem I had is that
I simply can't imagine Willow ever saying "I haven't completely {sic} given up
on cock". Not in a million zillion years. At least Xander also thinks it's out
of character.
Stripped of the fanfic elements, I don't think the concept is a very strong one,
particularly since Xander is supposed to be acting as Willow's proxy so that she
can vicariously fulfil her fantasy of having sex with Buffy. I would have
preferred it if the author had cut out the middleman and made Willow the PC.
Dialogue is a problem in the sense that there's not enough of it. Buffy and
Willow have maybe three or four conversation topics each. Asking them about the
other characters from the show, for instance, is mostly met with blank stares.
The dialogue also doesn't do much to establish any kind of attraction or
romantic interest from Buffy's side.
Descriptions are another weakness of this game, with some objects not being
mentioned in the room descriptions (entertainment centre, oven), other objects
being mentioned but not implemented (coffee table, stove), and yet other objects
being implemented but not described (branch). There are also issues with
synonyms, such as 'x shelves' working, but 'search shelves' not working. It
seems superfluous to add that there are a lot of spelling mistakes as well.
The game's strength is the number of different sex scenes that it's possible to
set up. That sets Buffy apart from the other games in this year's minicomp, and
is why I ended up ranking it first in that area. Granted, none of the scenes are
particularly deeply implemented. The 'Xander dominant' scene, which was the
first I found, lasts a grand total of four actions, which was disappointing. The
'friends with benefits' one is a bit better, but I would never have gotten it
without a walkthrough since it requires you to cut an object that doesn't have a
description and without having anything to cut it with, open an object that's
not mentioned in the room description, and use a verb that's not mentioned in
the readme.
This was probably the most frustrating game in this year's minicomp. It's not
lacking ambition (as evidenced by the multiple scenes) but it's let down by poor
execution. In fact the multiple endings inadvertently lowered my opinion of the
game by encouraging me to replay it several times, during which I was exposed to
more and more of its problems. That's reflected by the fact that although I
ranked it highly in one area, Buffy scored poorly everywhere else. I hope it's
not the only game the author ever makes, because he does show a lot of promise,
but his next game needs a lot more testing.
Reviews should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors.
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