Rime of the Ancient Mariner

(NOTE: Slimy spoilers abound. Also, if you got the reference in the review's title, congratulations!)

How do you recreate an ancient work of literature for a contemporary audience?

To my mind, there are four ways to go about this:

1. Fidelity: Recreate the original work lovingly and faithfully, with attention to detail. You may not win many new fans, but you'll be beloved by purists. (Example: Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet".)
2. Adaptation: Stick to the original plot, but update the surroundings. This has the advantage of coming across as up-to-date and edgy, but it can also be very jarring to those who find the original perfect as it is. (Example: the Leonardo diCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet.)
3. Loose adaptation: Take the main story as your base, but play fast and loose with it, leaving something that has only a vague resemblance to the original material. This generally pleases no one. (Example: "Romeo Must Die".)
4. Video game adaptation: Make the player live through the experience of the story, either as a visual novel or as a very linear game. As this is the most recent of the four ideas, it's unsurprising that "Romeo and Juliet: The RPG" hasn't yet been released.

However, for those who are curious to see what (4) would look like, wait no longer, for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner answers your question.

Story and writing: (3.5 out of 5)
I'm more of a "prose guy" than a "poetry guy", and even if I can appreciate Coleridge's poetic talent, the source material has always struck me as an extended shaggy-dog story. Translating this to the RPG medium is difficult, and the author has taken an interesting approach, which I'll describe in the "gameplay" section. The game sticks fairly closely to the original, but there are a few jarring deviations - what purpose does the merchant serve? Do we really need stereotypical snippets of "ship lingo" (of the "arr matey!" kind) to add local colour? I'll give Mariner full marks for effort here, though the execution isn't always what it could be. And what became of Alexander Pope?

Gameplay: (2 out of 5)
In order to make the player feel something of the Mariner's frustration and despair, the author deliberately drags out the gameplay, including mazes and any number of battles (though these can be avoided), as well as several turns where "go to sleep" is the only way to advance the plot. He is to be commended for adding an "easy" mode (read: save slots) - though this does interfere to some extent with his intent, it makes it much easier on those who are going to replay the story for the purposes of writing a review. However, the battles are still annoying, and rely too much on default RTP mechanics - not that I object to RTP, but it comes across as out of place in an adaptation of a work of classic literature.

("What do you mean, Professor?" you ask.

Well, consider the following:

Fernand Mondego appears!
Mondego uses Insult!
Monte Cristo is unaffected.
Monte Cristo uses Taunt!
Mondego, 15 HP lost.
Mondego uses Threat!
Monte Cristo, missed!
Monte Cristo uses Reveal Identity!
Mondego commits suicide!
You are victorious!


You get my drift, I'm sure.)

All in all, though the idea behind the irritating gameplay is understandable and even creative, the execution falls behind. Less "slimy things" (the game's term for annoying compulsory battles) would have significantly raised the score here.

Artwork and music: (3.5 out of 5)
The graphics are a combination of public domain art by the likes of Gustave Dore, and RPG Maker XP's default package. It sounds like an odd combination, but it works. The music, a combination of familiar Enterbrain tunes, is nice without being jarring, though something classical may have worked better during the "haunting" scenes. The closing theme, though, is very well chosen and ends things on a high note.

Summing up:
Rime of the Ancient Mariner deserves serious attention, not so much for what it is (which is still playable), but for the door that it opens - the possibility of experiencing an ancient classic by playing one's way through it. As a game, it only rates a 2.5 or 3; however, because of the potential that it unlocks, I shall bump the rating a little higher. Time will tell if this medium lends itself to the adaptation of longer and more plot-heavy or character-driven works, but from what we see in Mariner, there is hope.

Recommended.