IFReviewed by
Jacqueline A. Lott on 2006-07-21 08:14
I'm not exactly sure why this only runs in Windows, except that he used an installer to put the files in certain locations on the hard drive. It is my opinion that Cooney would have done better to make it accessible to everyone with a web browser, particular since the game isn't particularly heavy on multi-media (at least that I could see), but I will not judge him on this.
Others, of course, will.
Not only will they judge him on the fact that it only runs in Windows, they will also judge him on the fact that he's entered a Choose Your Own Adventure style game into the comp. A lot of people don't think that CYOAs are particularly interactive. I don't necessarily agree with that because, well, I read something and then I interacted and then I was given more information to read and then I interacted again, so I guess that's interactive enough. Perhaps not on the level I'd like, but I won't disqualify it outright (some probably will).
On to the review proper: I liked this game. It wasn't mind-blowingly awesome, but it was fun to play and I played through to several endings. For the genre I found it to be particularly well written; it felt very much like a CYOA of old, except with a bit lot more violence. The characters were cheesy as hell, but then, so was every character in every CYOA I ever read as a kid; given the rather decent prose that fell outside all the quotation marks, I chalked up the queso factor as an unfortunate necessity of CYOA-style writing. And let's face it - a game with a title like Space Horror #1: Prey for Your Enemies, in which alien "fright wolves" abduct people, is not exactly expected to be cheese-free.
So, on the whole I had a good time, but I would make a recommendation to Jerald: learn to code in one of the IF languages. I'd really like to play some interactive fiction you've written, because you've obviously got the attention to detail and polished writing to make a traditional IF game worthwhile.
