April '19 Play Log III

Enjoyable overall but the humour was somewhat disappointing. I suspect my standards were too high though. There were certainly many chuckles but few ‘burst out laughing’ moments, although this is obviously subjective. It’s definitely on the weird side so you have to be able to appreciate that.

Pros:

• Decent graphical style
• Good voice acting
• It’s possible to see all of the things you can interact with
• There are often jokes if you try to pick up/interact with something where that doesn’t make sense
• The jokes, puns, etc, are pretty much constant
• The puzzles were neither too easy nor too difficult

Cons:

• Fewer burst-out-laughing moments than I’d hoped for, but this is a bit of a nitpick as there were many chuckles
• You collect a bunch of audio tapes for an achievement, but I never found a way to listen to them

Verdict: 7/10

I struggled to decide whether to give this a positive or negative overall. As far as the story/adventure goes, it’s really not very interesting. Sure I can relate to it a bit with the boring daily grind, but that doesn’t make the adventure any more interesting. As far as the puzzles go, most of them are fairly straight forward. The ones that aren’t are just plain annoying. Items use themselves where needed which at first I liked, but it’s always simple enough that it’s really not necessary. Overall I don’t consider this a bad game, but there are more interesting ones out there more worthy of your time.

Pros:

• I really liked the cartoony art style and animations
• Cartoony sound effects are also very good
• Not too difficult

Cons:

• Most of the puzzles that aren’t straight-forward are just annoying. For example, memory/matching type puzzles that require you to start again if you get one answer wrong. Since there are a limited number of pairs/puzzles/etc these sometimes ends up becoming grindy.
• The fact that items in your inventory use themselves make already fairly easy puzzles even easier.

Verdict: 6/10

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the story told by this point & click. The final chapter was definitely the weakest, though that’s mostly due to unfortunate changes in the gameplay that allow the story to proceed at a faster pace as it approaches a climax.

Pros:

• Most of the voice acting is well done
• Great story that (starting during the second chapter) had me genuinely wanting to find out what happens next.
• Most of the puzzles are challenging but not so much that a walkthrough is required (though I did consult one from time to time)
• Has an in-game hint system
• There are some areas where you can have a minor effect on the story, which is a nice touch.

Cons:

• Some animations have a several second delay before you can interact with things again
• Defaults to bad graphics, which are indeed appalling. The ‘fantastic’ setting is the most basic I would expect from any point & click. There’s no need to have graphics settings in this game IMO (unless it’s very poorly optimized); it should default to fantastic.
• The last chapter introduces a ‘trust’ meter for all characters. If you loose all trust they’ll shoot you, even if that doesn’t necessarily make sense.
• Unfortunately the aforementioned trust meter often forces you down a specific dialogue path.
• There’s a large story oversight at the climax that doesn’t make much sense. I don’t think they necessarily need to change the story, but removing the obvious contradiction would make it make more sense (and wouldn’t be difficult).
• The first chapter has an achievement for not using hints, which resulted in me using a walkthrough when I got stuck for the whole game. Personally I’d strongly prefer to use in game hints.

Verdict: 8/10

A very funny and enjoyable Point & Click that’s definitely worth playing for anyone who enjoys the genre.

Pros:

• Very funny
• Good voice acting
• Good background music
• The songs at the start of each chapter are great
• Interesting story

Cons:

• There were multiple spots where I never would have figured out how to proceed without a walkthrough. Thankfully using a walkthrough doesn’t completely ruin the experience, but as always I recommend using one only when you get stuck.
• Droggeljug

Verdict: 9/10