A Bit of an Oddball
amerk- 12/07/2014 05:43 AM
- 1145 views
This is a bit difficult to review for a number of reasons:
1. It's two games combined on a single game page.
2. The first game (Perfection) was for a contest in 2005.
3. Both are extremely short (15 to 20 minutes tops).
I decided to focus my review on Perfection for one reason. Secroma really isn't a game at all. It's not even a demo. It's more like a tech demo that demonstrates the developer's ability to create a stealth mini game with a sort of tacky intro thrown in for some weird reason. It's handled fairly well and may have worked better as a tutorial guide for creating a stealth event rather than a tack-on to an existing game page.
In any case, then, moving on to Perfection. As I mentioned above, it was developed sometime back for a contest in 2005. In RPG Making time, that would make this one a bit like a Grand Daddy of hobby video game making. It's genre fits more like the interactive mystery adventure. It's not a horror, although it's story revolves around ghosts, nor is it so much of a puzzle solver as it going from Point A to Point B to find the key to Point C.
There are some interesting designs here, namely the music in a couple of locations, the customized menu that's been tailored more for an interactive genre, and the layout of house (referred to as 'maison' here).
The story is a bit shallow, and I couldn't help but feel that more could have been done with it. But 24 hours to make a game doesn't grant one much time for planning. You go around searching for clues to the mysteries behind the ghost haunting the maison, and the audience can pretty much guess the culprit within the first five minutes or so. It's a bit rushed, especially the ending, but it works for something short and sweet (especially if you have a half hour to kill), but there is no great reward for playing the game, nor is there ever a moment where the player can possibly lose. There is nothing for the player to do but to click on every possible item, and if you get lost there is an option to turn on interaction points that will literally tell the player what to click on.
Perhaps if the Stealth system from Secroma had been injected into this game, perhaps for reasons of avoiding the culprits or ghosts, giving the audience a moment of tension and the possibility of a game over, this might have had more worth.
As a previous reviewer mentioned, the story has some interesting themes that, in a better planned game, could have had more impact. But the short time the player is given to play and experience the game, coupled with how rushed everything feels, isn't enough to fully appreciate what those themes are or to really care who they are happening to.
As it is, the game's a time killer, and not much more.
1. It's two games combined on a single game page.
2. The first game (Perfection) was for a contest in 2005.
3. Both are extremely short (15 to 20 minutes tops).
I decided to focus my review on Perfection for one reason. Secroma really isn't a game at all. It's not even a demo. It's more like a tech demo that demonstrates the developer's ability to create a stealth mini game with a sort of tacky intro thrown in for some weird reason. It's handled fairly well and may have worked better as a tutorial guide for creating a stealth event rather than a tack-on to an existing game page.
In any case, then, moving on to Perfection. As I mentioned above, it was developed sometime back for a contest in 2005. In RPG Making time, that would make this one a bit like a Grand Daddy of hobby video game making. It's genre fits more like the interactive mystery adventure. It's not a horror, although it's story revolves around ghosts, nor is it so much of a puzzle solver as it going from Point A to Point B to find the key to Point C.
There are some interesting designs here, namely the music in a couple of locations, the customized menu that's been tailored more for an interactive genre, and the layout of house (referred to as 'maison' here).
The story is a bit shallow, and I couldn't help but feel that more could have been done with it. But 24 hours to make a game doesn't grant one much time for planning. You go around searching for clues to the mysteries behind the ghost haunting the maison, and the audience can pretty much guess the culprit within the first five minutes or so. It's a bit rushed, especially the ending, but it works for something short and sweet (especially if you have a half hour to kill), but there is no great reward for playing the game, nor is there ever a moment where the player can possibly lose. There is nothing for the player to do but to click on every possible item, and if you get lost there is an option to turn on interaction points that will literally tell the player what to click on.
Perhaps if the Stealth system from Secroma had been injected into this game, perhaps for reasons of avoiding the culprits or ghosts, giving the audience a moment of tension and the possibility of a game over, this might have had more worth.
As a previous reviewer mentioned, the story has some interesting themes that, in a better planned game, could have had more impact. But the short time the player is given to play and experience the game, coupled with how rushed everything feels, isn't enough to fully appreciate what those themes are or to really care who they are happening to.
As it is, the game's a time killer, and not much more.

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