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DELRON
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Witness: Demon vs Vampire Reviews
Author: Robert Street
Date: 2007
ADRIFT 4.0
Reviewed by Eric Mayer
SCORE: 7
Comments: OK. So, how lame of a player am I, to need hints for a game made in
three hours? On the other hand, how does an author manage to include hints in a
game composed so quickly? Or contrive enough puzzles to require hints? (Well,
obviously, the game is compact, but well thought out without much wasted
implementation or writing) Yes, there are actually multiple things to do in this
game, and everything works, even if I am dense. Sounds like it might be an
introduction to a longer game too.
Reviewed by James Webb a.k.a. Revgiblet:
SCORE: 7
Comments: Robert's got a bit of ADRIFT experience and this shows right away.
There are only two locations in this game, fewer than any of the other entries,
and this works in his favour. He's able to pack more detail and game mechanics
into the smaller play area and this game is a lot more polished because of it.
The fact that, out of the four games, I spent the least amount of time playing
this is actually a good thing. It shows good design and that the difficulty was
pitched at the right level.
The only thing that frustrated me was the 'draw pentagram' command. I tried it
in the main room and was told that I couldn't do it. There were no clues telling
me that I was trying the right thing but simply in the wrong location. I had to
check the hints just to make sure that I was on the right lines when a simple
"You can't do that in this room" error message would have saved me feeling liked
I'd cheated unnecessarily (I hate feeling like that). Still, that's a bit of
nit-picking really, and you could blame me for giving up too early if you
wanted. I also found the central concept of a demon fighting a vampire a little
bit cheesy; a bit "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" if you like. But then I found out
that I was actually a zombie victim of the vampire. That was pretty cool.
Having hints was great. You don't have time in a three-hour-comp to include
clever clues (though this game had the clearest indications of what I should be
doing) in your writing so a few hints really helped, though the game was well
designed enough for me not to need them (except for the pentagram stuff I
mentioned above). Also, another game that isn't password locked so I can take a
quick look and make sure that I didn't miss anything. I gave this a '7' which
makes it my favourite of the comp.
Reviewed by Ren Rennington
SCORE: 5
Comments: I completed this, so, hurrah. It is perhaps the slightest game, but I
didn't find any obvious bugs (aside from some confusion about drawing), and the
writing was never less than competent.
Reviewed by J. J. Guest
SCORE: 8
Comments: I played this game last because the title led me to expect a combat
oriented game, which I loathe, but this little game is nothing of the sort. With
just two rooms this game is the smallest in the comp, but it is also one of the
better implemented, as one would expect from an experienced 'drifter like
Street. I was a little stumped at one point, because I was trying the right
actions in the wrong room, but once I had that figured out the game was pretty
much in the bag. My one quibble is that though the focus of the game is supposed
to be the battle between a demon and a vampire, this titanic struggle is
described in a single line of prose, and prosaic prose at that: "The demon and
vampire are fighting." Buffy it ain't! I think that, given the small size of the
game, a little more time could have been spent sprucing up the battle with
random events. All in all, a solid effort from an accomplished author.
Reviews should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors.
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