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It's always funny until someone gets hurt, and then it's just hilarious.

(NOTE: The titular phrase comes from the song "Ricochet" by Faith No More, who in turn presumably borrowed it from Bill Hicks. Also, there are spoilers in this review, but they're hidden.)

Two of the most difficult tasks for a writer - and I don't say this on my own authority; I'm paraphrasing the late, great Isaac Asimov - are pulling off a very short ("short-short") work of fiction, and being funny.

It isn't hard to see why. In a novel or a novella, you have time to build a world, develop characters, outline an elaborate plot, and slowly build up to your climax. In a longer short story, you still have some elbow room to work with. However, as your work grows shorter, your freedom decreases, and it takes skill to come across as neither contrived nor trite.

And humour is notoriously difficult to do, because the margin of error is small. If you write a romance and "misfire", people may still like your characters, or feel that the relationship would have worked if you'd tried a bit harder. But humour is "all or none"; there's no such thing as a "slightly funny joke", unless you're trying to be polite.

Why do I say this? Because Kirroha's visual short story, "RE: Prince of Nigeria", attempts both the above - and succeeds honourably. Let's see how this was achieved:

Story:
Oh, I enjoyed this. Of course, I'm biased, being a fan of scam-baiting sites like 419 Eater and Scam-O-Rama, but you don't have to be an expert on Nigerian scams to appreciate this little story. Though it's simple - a star-struck young girl striking up an e-mail correspondence with His Scamosity, the "Prince of Nigeria" - it's done quite elegantly, and finishing the game
unlocks a bonus "frame story" that explains some of the odd things about the "main" storyline, and does so neatly and entertainingly.
Nicely done. Also, there's no attempt to add on a heavy social or moral message at the end - which is the bane of many short stories; even Asimov wasn't immune to it.

Writing:
The strong point, really. Our heroine's prose is purple - exaggeratedly and comically so - and to hear her speak of "a frangipani blooming within her stomach" (and other similar "romantic" images) makes for plenty of good, clean fun. The "Prince"'s agrammatical, stereotyped scam mails ring very true - as someone who's received more such mails than he can remember, and has even done a spot of scambaiting, I can vouch for their accuracy. References to popular culture, such as Twilight
and Rick Astley, in the bonus ending
, are done neatly, and serve to establish the player character's ditzy nature. Also, the Communist joke was hilarious.

Non-writing elements:
Gameplay is simple: there's only one choice that the player can make, giving you two possible endings. The interface is user-friendly, and the background music - though covering a range of styles - fits the individual scenes well. The artwork is cute ("animesque") without being stereotypical or annoying. Though none of these are outstanding, they work well in the context of the story.

Final words:
Though RE: Prince of Nigeria is short and simple, it's also remarkably entertaining and memorable. I would enjoy seeing a longer work from this author, and if you've got fifteen minutes to spare, it's certainly worth giving this one a shot.

Recommended.