RMN Christmas Card 2009

Christmas has come and gone and 2009 has stepped in to the veils of history, but even after a 2 week delay into 2010, YDS delivers to us quite a refreshing and heartwarming Christmas-themed community game.

Having played through it, there isn't much to judge. RMN.net is represented as a quaint little town in a snowy forest befitting the Christmas season, with the regulars of the community playing the role of citizens. They each have a little something a lot to say if you talk to them, and besides the slight inconsistency in dialogue style (which is to be expected of a user-submitted-content game) most of them manage to entice a chuckle well fitting a game of this genre.

The plethora of custom/editted graphics in this game is a resoundingly refreshing sight, Christmas or not, and bears mentioning. Quite awesome they are! Mac & Blue/REFMAP was used to incredible effect and, barring some random tiles that didn't have the obvious passability setting, the maps were masterfully crafted in a way that they were neither too crowded nor too empty. I especially liked that train in the end, steam engines are awesome...

...except maybe that epic pudding. That was made of epic awesome that trumps all others. ;D

The plot of the game serves only as a catalyst to introduce the people, along with any little quests they have for us to do, which is a bit of a let down. Given how the game was delayed though, it's understandable. Besides, the primary goal of delivering Christmas cheer from the RMN community was achieved with a touching picture at the end.

The music was appropriate for the theme, with Christmas-theme MIDIs. There was nothing super spectacular or super bad about them, it was just right and exactly what we expect out of a Christmas game. Whether this is a good or bad thing is anyone's guess, but I personally liked it.

Overall, it was a game that brought a smile to my face. I had a few gripes with the System set used (not enough color contrast between the font and background), the understandably inconsistent dialogue style, and a few flukes with the charasets, but all of that takes a back seat to a game meant to simply bring a smile to one's face. Bravo and well done!