IF Competition 2006 Review #1: PTGood

Name: PTGOOD
Author: Sartre Malvolio
Email:
Date: 29 Sep 2006
Parser: ADRIFT
Availability: IFComp 2006 Entrant
URL: http://www.ifcomp.org/
Version: Competition Version

Plot: 0/10 – No conceivable plot except for a blurb at the start about preventing Slan Xorax from terrorizing the IF community with terrible games.
Atmosphere: 0/10 – Locations are not described, there are no NPCs that I could find. There is no atmosphere.
Writing:  1/10 – He spelled most words correctly. Other than that, prose seems to be a grade school level.
Game play:  0/10 – Unable to find any.  Stuck on what appeared to be a guess-the-verb question very early on.
Characters:  0/10 – None other than a generic main character with no description.
Puzzles: 0/10 – I hate guess-the-verb.
Overall:  1/10 – Why bother?

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Full Review (Warning: Spoilers)
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Theres something almost beautifully ironic about writing a bad game which is supposed to be about stopping people from making bad games. I really wish I could believe that this game is badly written on purpose, that the empty locations, direction bugs and early guess-the-verb puzzle that I wasted a good half-hour on before deciding this game had taken enough time, was written badly on purpose as an ironic joke.

At least then there would be some purpose to it.  Even still, a joke like that belongs as an independent release, not in a competition where it takes valuable time away from games that actually have substance. This game is just bad. There is nothing else to it.  Not to mention the whole Slan Xorax idea, which was lost on me, sounds like an attempt at a juvenile in-joke plot.  I can only guess that Slan is an author of games that Sartre, at least, thinks are bad and this is some sort of poor homage to him.

As mentioned in the capsule, the locations lacked description. In one case, where exits actually were described, they were described wrong (the lab was said to be south-east, it was actually west), and I ran into a wall quite fast. That might be in some parts related to me poor problem solving ability, but nothing about this game gave me any desire to try harder, so I guess it doesn’t matter in the end.
This is the kind of game I wish i’d bought, so I could self-righteously demand my money back.

If you’re not judging, dont play it.  There are so many good games out there.