The Little Ugly, Evil Guy On My Shoulder's Verdict: I think bananas are best seen in jungles and porno flicks, not adventure games
The Little Handsome, Good Guy On My Shoulder's Verdict: So a giant flaming head, a monkey, and a robot go into a bar carrying a hundred bananas...
My Verdict: A game that begs the question, "Why?"
It seems that no IF competition can be free from them; ah, those stupid, stupid games! Games written by people who knew they didn't have a chance at winning. Games written for the express purpose of being stupid. Why oh why? Spose that some art gallery is holding an art competition for amateur artists. Would they, too, get a dozen submissions of a blank piece of paper with two circles drawn in each corner? It just seems like such a waste to me. If you're going to enter the competition, at least TRY. You can still go for cheap laughs and write a great adventure game at the same time(see King Arthur's Night Out or Chicks Dig Jerks from this year's comp). At least give it a SHOT - don't just waste your own and everybody else's time with clutter. Alright, enough preaching. Let's just discuss the marvel that is "Pass The Banana" and get it freakin' over.
You play a young Romanian general in the prime of life(sorry, made that up) who finds himself in the strangest of situations: you're in a room with a giant flaming head, a monkey, and Melvin(ahem, or should I say "Marvin"?) the robot. In your hands are nine bananas. Thy quest is to pass the bananas so that thou aren't holding any at all. If you wish to win the game, however, you must also find the fabled tenth banana. I suggest you play around with the last three letters of the alphabet in order to do so. Or think about "Adventure." Or think about that zine Eileen Mullin runs. Think those sort of thoughts. The rest of it should be self-explanatory. I personally finished the game in ten minutes. The hardest puzzle is undoubtedly the game itself: you have to keep asking yourself, "Is this really all there is to it?" The answer is undoubtedly and unequivocally "Yes." Does the game have any strong points? It's a little bit funny, but decidedly more "stupid" and "silly" than plain ol' funny. I suppose the NPCs and the parser are relative strong points. The monkey, the robot, and the flaming head interact with themselves and you in several different ways besides passing bananas. You might try, par example, spanking them. Not that I would ever do such a thing. And many other commands garner responses, some humorous, some dramatic. However, I don't play adventure games just to see cutesy responses to my command inputs. I want a GAME, dammit! I want to be entertained! I want pirates, a lost treasure, intrigue! In short, I want "Cutthroats." Ooh, "Cutthroats"!
Simple Rating: 5/10
Complicated Rating: 22/50
Story: 1/10(If you can find a story in there for me, please tell me about it.)
Writing: 4/10
Playability: 8/10
Puzzle Quality: 1/10
Parser Responsiveness: 8/10
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