| Home | About Me | |
|
|
DELRON
|
To End All Wars Reviews
Author: Duncan Bowsman
Date: 2009
ADRIFT 4.0
Reviewed by James Webb (as revgiblet)
A First World War game - one
that reminds me of Over the Edge in that it seems to want to portray the
brutality of the Great War by making the game punishing. As in 'Dung Beetles
Are Aliens', DB tries to evoke a particular atmosphere through his presentation,
this time through the medium of music. The jolly nature of the tune jars a
little with the nature of the game, but I assume this is intentional as the
lyrics are clearly satirical and therefore tie in with the heart of the game.
The style and presentation are excellent. DB puts lots of effort into this side
of his projects and it contributes to making his games a pleasure to play.
Navigation of the text is painless and his descriptions are spot-on. In terms
of the writing matching the genre and atmosphere of the game, all of DB's
efforts for this comp have been flawless.
However, I'm not too sure what DB is trying to achieve with this. There is no
obvious plot, other than to survive, so the incentive to play the full version
of this game appears to depend on the player's interest in a series of timed
puzzles, with failure to complete being punished harshly. The game invites you
to try a variety of different actions, each of which either kill you or reduce
the number of moves that you have left to prevent inhaling toxic death.
Checking the hints seems to confirm that it's impossible - like Over the
Edge - to complete the game. I suppose that you can't fault it for making
its point. It does, however, make it hard for me to judge this game. What am I
judging it on? The writing is, as I would expect, great but there isn't
anything else about this effort that makes me want to play on. As an
educational tool, a First World War IF game has the potential to be perfect.
Combining DB's writing with the chance to learn more about 1914-1918 *does*
appeal to me (I do have a passing interest in military history) but beyond that
there's not much to entice you to play this game.
I would certainly recommend the full-game to myself, and people like me, but I
am fairly sure that this would be unlikely to become anyone's favourite ADRIFT
game. But that doesn't matter - an interesting and very good ADRIFT game would
be enough for me.
Reviews should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors.
| Any donation would be much appreciated to help keep the site online and growing. | To help make your donation quicker and
easier just click the "Donate" button and you will be taken to the secure Paypal donation page. |
|
| Home | About Me |
