Arc
This is a sci-fi sort of horror scenario put into a MZX game--lots of dialogue, very story-driven. You play Herman, a random dude living in a corrupt town. Beings from the future, who are under impending doom from an outside force called the Demons, contact you, and send you on a mission to kill the man who started the powerful cult. They give you a drug that supposedly opens you up to the evil influences of the Demons. Interest ensues!
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Last modified 2014-02-21 21:16:23
Arc is a medium-short-length story game where you get to brutally and graphically mutilate people. Normally I'd approve full-heartedly but Arc misses on a lot of details and turns into a cumbersome experience that requires the use of the MZX editor:
* The player has no control of the dialogue. I found it dreadfully slow at points, and it was irritating when the lines ping-ponged between the top of the screen and the bottom of the screen. The player can also move around during a lot of dialogue segments, which is distracting.
* The purple key in the forest uses a relative gotoxy every time the player enters the board, causing it to easily move out of the play area and make the game unbeatable.
* The player is locked after opening the first door in the back alley, but is never unlocked, trapping you when you return to the board.
* A transition board that is reused several times lacks a "justentered", stopping the game in the mayor's office.
* The bum in the mayor's office doesn't zap his touched label (minor).
* The swearing got excessive at points and detracted from the story (minor).
As far as the things that this game did right, the story was interesting and had a handful of unexpected twists. The atmosphere was great and the werewolf segments were surprisingly satisfying, which made up for the game-breaking bugs to some degree.
I don't know how I'd rate this game if all of my above complaints were fixed, since they all detracted from the flow of the story, upon which the rating is critical... probably a four or even a five. If Bramble doesn't come back to fix them at some point, I might. Good job on this enjoyable video game experience!
KILL EVERYTHING NOW
* The player has no control of the dialogue. I found it dreadfully slow at points, and it was irritating when the lines ping-ponged between the top of the screen and the bottom of the screen. The player can also move around during a lot of dialogue segments, which is distracting.
* The purple key in the forest uses a relative gotoxy every time the player enters the board, causing it to easily move out of the play area and make the game unbeatable.
* The player is locked after opening the first door in the back alley, but is never unlocked, trapping you when you return to the board.
* A transition board that is reused several times lacks a "justentered", stopping the game in the mayor's office.
* The bum in the mayor's office doesn't zap his touched label (minor).
* The swearing got excessive at points and detracted from the story (minor).
As far as the things that this game did right, the story was interesting and had a handful of unexpected twists. The atmosphere was great and the werewolf segments were surprisingly satisfying, which made up for the game-breaking bugs to some degree.
I don't know how I'd rate this game if all of my above complaints were fixed, since they all detracted from the flow of the story, upon which the rating is critical... probably a four or even a five. If Bramble doesn't come back to fix them at some point, I might. Good job on this enjoyable video game experience!
KILL EVERYTHING NOW