The Evil, Ugly Guy On My Shoulder's Verdict: This game was good until the part with the chicken. Oh, sorry, that part is the "beginning."
The Nice, Handsome Guy On My Shoulder's Verdict: Great fun! I enjoyed playing this game a lot!
My Verdict: This one has a chicken. Ten stars!
Game Information
Game Type: Inform
Author Info: Richard Bos is a first time Inform author who, inspired by the many brilliant chicken related games entered into Chicken Comp '98, decided to include a chicken in his dinosaur game entered into the Dino Comp '00. Some people are just so clever!
Other Games By This Author: He is, like so many other Dino Comp entrants, a newbie. This is his first game in Inform.
Download Link: The entire 650 KB Dino-Comp package linked here includes this game and many other others
This is a fairly interesting pastiche of quite a number of different things. The player character is a dinosaur of unknown type who finds himself, oddly enough, by the side of a road jam-packed with traffic. The road is surrounded, oddly enough, by wide expanses of jungle. The dino is hungry, but, oddly enough, there's a sumptuous looking chicken strutting about seductively just across the street. The goal of the game, then, is not to cross the road and in so doing answer the question posed in the title, but simply to KNAB THAT CHICKEN in any way possible. The fact that the game's story seems to be made up of several arbitrarily chosen elements that don't really make a lot of sense when put together should clue you in that the gameplay will also not follow the dictates of logic any too closely. It's not that the actions required for victory don't make sense in retrospect - it's just that the game does not provide any gentle hints to keep the player thinking along the right tack while he's playing. You know what I'm saying? "Hello, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to play another edition of Guess....That...Veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrbbbbbbbbbb!!!!"
"Eviscerate, huh? Is that your final answer?"
That's the only thing that really, truly annoys me about this game. I didn't really "win" it in a meaningful sense. The solution to the game did not come to me in a dazzling burst of mental illumination. Rather, I just kept trying different things and eventually victory was mine. To tell the truth, I was actually even surprised myself that I won with the particular verbs I used. Playing this game is a lazy, un-interactive experience. Yeah. But it's not like Richard doesn't go out of his way to admit this himself. Heck, the game is billed as a "Barely Interactive Dino-Comp Combination", so that tells you right from the start what you're in for. So, basically what I'm saying here is that this game sucks both as a game and work of fiction and...
Hey, that sounds kind of harsh, dudn't it? Sorry, Richard. I actually enjoyed playing this game for the most part because it is so light and humorous. I would've preferred a game that felt more like a game, yeah, but this work of IF certainly doesn't offend my senses or any such thing. Well, I did feel kind of funny slaughtering that chicken, but I can handle it. If I survived playing Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the Atari 2600 in my youth without blowing up any academic institutions, I can probably handle this. I think. I suppose it is possible that I'm just a violent video game away from unlocking that secret, unstoppable rage that lurks inside me. To tell you the truth, I think I'm just another attempt at solving Enemies away from unlocking that secret, unstoppable rage that lurks inside me. Man, that game was hard.
This review no longer appears to be on topic, and I seem to have nothing left to say. This being the case, I'm going to let Admiral Jota finish this review. Take it away, Jotey!
Jota?
Herr Admiral?
Jota wota bota?
Who's afraid of the big bad Jota?
Are you really Dr. Jota? Can you hear me?
Is there anybody in there?
Admiral! Your presence is requested on the poop deck!
The Evil, Ugly Guy On My Shoulder's Verdict: What? There's nothing I can possibly add to this conversation. It's too damn gay for me.
He must be busy writing another mini-comp game. Darn that Jota!
Simple Rating: 3/10
Complicated Rating: 12/50
Story: 3/10
Writing: 3/10
Playability: 2/10
Puzzle Quality: 1/10
Parser Responsiveness: 3/10
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