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2 Stars IFReview Rating The Obscene Quest of Dr. Aardvarkbarf

IFReviewed by Andrew Plotkin on 2006-06-25 08:33 

Game Profile

Author
Gary Roggin

Idiom
English

Authoring System
Tads2

Release Year
1997

IFR Overall Rating
5 Stars IFR Overall Rating
Separator
Well, what can I say... vaguely irritating and not much fun.

You run around a college campus trying to deliver a letter. The descriptions are sort of funny, but not in a very interesting way. All the professors are weirdos. This can be done well (I've been re-reading Daniel Pinkwater novels) but it can also be done badly. Sigh.

There is an annoying inventory limit, an annoying food limit ("If you do not eat soon, you will pass out," we're supposed to be past this by now) and a large swath of missing synonyms. (Up a tree, you can't go "down", you must "climb down tree". This occurs in several places.) And missing alternate solutions: you have a hammer and a screwdriver, but some things can only be pried with one of them. The author needs to pay some more attention to state: some descriptions don't change when they ought to (e.g., the torch); and there's a glaring plot hole in the ending if you don't take an optional action in the beginning. (Hitting the panel.)

Ok, I'm complaining a lot. Many of these problems can be fixed. Good points: there's a lot going on around campus, and much of it has nothing to do with your quest. I still don't know what's up with the janitor. This kind of side detail is nifty. And, hey, you can hit a lot of things with your hammer.

Footnote: I hate to whine, but it's spelled "fluorescent".

Andrew Plotkin Profile

IFReviewer Rating
9 Stars IFReviewer Overall Rating

Name Andrew Plotkin
Gender Male

Also IFReviewed by

Paul OBrian

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