I loved the writing in this game! Really funny. It was incredibly hard to wrestle with the parser, though. I went to Dan Fabulich's Invisiclues just to figure out how to use the phone, and after dying multiple times trying to figure out how to talk to the man and reset the safe, I gave up. Was SAY RESET supposed to reset the safe? It kept disambiguating by picking (to the man) and then I would die. Maybe I'll go back next week when I have more patience for trying things like SAY RESET TO SAFE. I think this would be an awesome game that I would probably love if the parser was more intuitive.
I won't rate it because I didn't get very far, but if I did I would give top marks for the writing and characters.
Mostly: "What hawkbyte said". There is something of a built-in hint system, for a while, but even so there's a lot you sort of have to stumble on. (I appreciated the ability to reset the countdown; the fact that you could do so took some "keep trying everything" commands.)
And there are bugs. Kind of a lot of bugs, actually, some of which may render the game unwinnable, which is really a shame because the thing that causes that bug is also the thing you need to do if you pick the right thing to do. (But once you find that doing the wrong thing renders things unwinnable, you may be less inclined to experiment. Save often.)
But the puzzles are interesting and the throwaway jokes are terrific. Occasionally when stuck I'd try doing random things (jumping, pointing things at themselves, eating things) just to look for more "Maybe if you were <Fantastic Superhero Name>" messages. So there's a lot to like here, as long as you've got some patience.
A one-room puzzle comedy about unlikely superheroes.
Writing
Hilarious! The puns are true groaners.
Story
In itself, the story is a little thin: it’s the first mission where the Frenetic Five worked together. Their goal is to open a safe, and the safe doesn’t matter, only the paycheck. But it oozes with personality and wacky hijinks.
Characters
The main strength of the game. The Frenetic Five are all highly silly in different ways. I can just sit forever and watch them chatter.
Implementation
Pretty good overall. A few bugs can mislead the player, but nothing too serious. Light on the scenery, with well-chosen details.
Puzzles
IMO some of the puzzles are too hard and under-clued. Would really have benefited from some hints or a walkthrough.
When I figured out why the password is what it is, I groaned for a full minute.
Comments
I loved the writing in this game! Really funny. It was incredibly hard to wrestle with the parser, though. I went to Dan Fabulich's Invisiclues just to figure out how to use the phone, and after dying multiple times trying to figure out how to talk to the man and reset the safe, I gave up. Was SAY RESET supposed to reset the safe? It kept disambiguating by picking (to the man) and then I would die. Maybe I'll go back next week when I have more patience for trying things like SAY RESET TO SAFE. I think this would be an awesome game that I would probably love if the parser was more intuitive.
I won't rate it because I didn't get very far, but if I did I would give top marks for the writing and characters.
Mostly: "What hawkbyte said". There is something of a built-in hint system, for a while, but even so there's a lot you sort of have to stumble on. (I appreciated the ability to reset the countdown; the fact that you could do so took some "keep trying everything" commands.)
And there are bugs. Kind of a lot of bugs, actually, some of which may render the game unwinnable, which is really a shame because the thing that causes that bug is also the thing you need to do if you pick the right thing to do. (But once you find that doing the wrong thing renders things unwinnable, you may be less inclined to experiment. Save often.)
But the puzzles are interesting and the throwaway jokes are terrific. Occasionally when stuck I'd try doing random things (jumping, pointing things at themselves, eating things) just to look for more "Maybe if you were <Fantastic Superhero Name>" messages. So there's a lot to like here, as long as you've got some patience.
A one-room puzzle comedy about unlikely superheroes.
Writing
Hilarious! The puns are true groaners.
Story
In itself, the story is a little thin: it’s the first mission where the Frenetic Five worked together. Their goal is to open a safe, and the safe doesn’t matter, only the paycheck. But it oozes with personality and wacky hijinks.
Characters
The main strength of the game. The Frenetic Five are all highly silly in different ways. I can just sit forever and watch them chatter.
Implementation
Pretty good overall. A few bugs can mislead the player, but nothing too serious. Light on the scenery, with well-chosen details.
Puzzles
IMO some of the puzzles are too hard and under-clued. Would really have benefited from some hints or a walkthrough.
When I figured out why the password is what it is, I groaned for a full minute.