IFReviewed by
Andrew Plotkin on 2006-06-25 08:53
Continuing the swarm of flying saucers in this competition -- okay, the second, but who's counting? --
This one was a joy to read. The four NPCs (two aliens and two parents) cheerfully play off stereotypes, with enough zing to keep me chuckling through the storyline. (Help, I'm trapped in a sea of ReviewerLang. Er, sorry. It was a lot of fun, though.)
The puzzles are satisfactory, although somehow I didn't click with several of them, so I wound up relying heavily on hints. In particular, the problem of getting Mom and Dad out of the way seemed totally opaque. It relies on doing one thing which has no effect for several turns; and then another which I accidentally did at the very start of the game, making things unwinnable (with an instant game-over when I entered the living room, in fact.) I could probably have gotten this with a great deal of experimentation, but I wasn't inspired to experiment. Similarly, in another room I missed a hiding place, which left me no obvious way to proceed. I'm hesitant to say these are the game's fault, but nonetheless they didn't work out for me.
In spite of this, I solved the last few puzzles myself (the ones I did experiment with) and bought the game to, as they say, a satisfactory conclusion.