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DELRON
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Rachel's Bad Day Reviews
Author: Sly Old Dog (original), Roger
Pepitone (port)
Date: 2005
Inform
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 (Review of
Inform port)
Basic Plot:
Rachel goes to work one day and decides to commit a little industrial espionage
for her scumbag boyfriend. This in turn leads her to meeting (and having to deal
with) some very
shady characters. All in all, she has a very bad day indeed.
Overall Thoughts:
Are you a persistent gamer? That’s the main question you need to ask before
tackling RBD. While there are fewer bugs in the Inform version than in the
original, the game can still be quite frustrating and vague at points,
especially at first. Simply due to poor programming, many players can get stuck
in the very first room. You can’t leave without wearing clean clothes, but the
wardrobe is empty, and despite the fact that you need your mobile phone to play
the game properly, it’s inside an invisible cabinet. And don’t even get me
started on the “change”command.But hey, I’m a reviewer – I plugged away and
finally managed to get out onto the street. From here the game improved
substantially, as while some things were still frustrating, I found no more
invisible objects, and made substantial progress quickly. Unfortunately, I found
the game’s theme personally unpleasant. Whether it’s your cup of tea or not, I
found the fact that 95% of the sex in the game is forced on Rachel rather than
consensual (and the one time it is consensual is when she’s getting paid for it)
and is quite a turn off.
It’s important for your enjoyment of the game that you know about this facet of
the story.
Puzzles/Gameplay:
Hey, this is an AIF game, and as such nine times out of ten sex is the solution.
While some of the puzzles are poorly implemented (for example, to sneak an
object out of an area, you have to stick it somewhere uncomfortable, but the
command to do so only becomes available after you’ve been caught and degraded a
first time, so even if you know what to do to avoid this, you still have to go
through it each time), and there’s a lot of trial and error involved, especially
in the last section of the game. This last section is the game’s largest puzzle,
and takes place in an interview-type situation. It’s certainly unique, and if
you’ve paid attention to the story you should manage to get through it okay, but
in some cases you’re being asked about innocuous
characters who came along, abused Rachel, and left. Since that’s all you learn
about these characters, the interview scene becomes a load/save extravaganza,
especially when I
finally reached the end and realized I had missed one simple step and had to
reload to a spot quite a while back.
Sex:
The sex, for the most part, is written well. Sex scenes aren’t exactly lengthy,
but what’s there is decently written. The problem for me was a lack of
interactivity and the aforementioned subject matter. Controlling Rachel in these
scenes can be quite frustrating, especially when the only way to progress is to
either do as you’re told or suffer in silence. Not to mention the redundant
“girl has sex forced on her, but still somehow starts to enjoy it” cliché
prevalent in this game. But as stated earlier, if that’s your thing, this game
is for you – if you find it deplorable, steer clear.
Technical:
Roger Pepitone has done a decent job of porting the game over from ADRIFT, and
getting rid of quite a few game-killing bugs. For example, I could play the game
from beginning to end, saving whenever I liked, without anything crashing or
errors appearing. There are still some spelling errors and awkward phrasing, but
it’s a lot better than the original. However, there are still technical
problems, such as the invisible objects in the first room, the change command
(rather than the more common “strip” or removing single items of clothing) and
some guess-the-verb problems at parts. The game can be quite frustrating, but
not to the point of giving up. A bit of patience and persistence will see you
through.
Intangibles:
Everybody’s an arsehole. That seems to be the message of RBD. Everyone’s a
sexual deviant, including the main character. Rachel is groped, raped and spat
on throughout this game, sometimes going along willingly but most times not, and
all for this mission she’s on for her boyfriend, who we never meet, hence making
her dedication hard to follow. Not to mention the inconsistency of character
prevalent in the game – despite being filmed for a porno earlier in the game and
then partaking in public sex, a character later threatens to blackmail Rachel
with film of her activities. Yeah. And while I don’t want to spoil the game, I
found the ending terrible. It left me feeling, well, dirty, for taking part in
these characters’ world, and controlling Rachel, who turns out to be quite the
bitch herself.
Final Thoughts:
While the port to Inform has resolved some of the bugs from Rachel’s Bad Day,
its poor writing and distasteful subject matter remain. Say what you will about
games being released without proper testing and bug fixes, but even if this game
ran perfectly I still couldn’t recommend it. I’m not saying that AIF can’t deal
with the darker side of sex, but playing a game where you walk a character from
one forced sexual encounter to the next where none of the characters have any
saving morals or any real explanation for their motivations, it’s just
exploitative and distasteful. Hardly what I’d call a good time.
Rating: D
Reviews should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors.
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