Outsmart
Authors: Stellar (concept), Hipon (code), Clea Leshlick (Music/Sound), Lazcht and Kodoktua (Graphics)
Availability: Free, Online/Browser
Format: Management Sim
Genre: Humor
Rating: E
My Scores: (Writing: 3.5, Art: 5, Gameplay: 3)
Found at http://keygames.com/ or http://www.kongregate.com/
Summary:
In Outsmart, you are Anneite. You and your slacker fiance Robme have been given an ultimatum by his parents: the two of you have two months to raise $50,000 dollars and get married. Otherwise, get out!
Review:
Writing:
The first interesting thing that stands out to me is the fact that this is a relationship-based game that already has you in a relationship, and a stable one at that. The story isn't about finding love or losing it. Rather, it's about the two of you getting enough financial independence to be kicked out of the nest. It's a very contemporary theme, since we live in an age where more and more adults (at least in the U.S) are still living with their parents, whether because of a lack of available jobs or because of a lack of work-related ambition. In the case of Robme, it's the latter.
At first I thought that this was either going to be the story of a nice girl being saddled with a mooching loser in the name of "Twu Wuv", or the story of a girl becoming disillusioned and kicking her boyfriend out on his rear. I was pleasantly surprised as the story of Anneite and Robme unfolded and showed that, no, this was not a lop-sided relationship. Robme may be lazy, but he's not ungrateful; and Anneite may be more ambitious, but that doesn't necessarily translate to "female role model".
The English is off, here. For a while, I thought maybe it was an intentional reference to poorly-dubbed anime, but I get the impression that English just isn't the writer's first language. Still, it's a humorous game, and the story is pretty cute.
Art:
The art and graphics are professional quality. The art suggests anime or something similar, although the characters are definitely more wonky than pretty, as in Castle Chase. Also, I find it hilarious that Robme's mother is apparently a gun-toting robot.
Gameplay:
They say that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and I find that to be remarkably true for this game.
On the one hand, it seems to be utterly dependent on mini-games: your maximum stats are determined by each stat's level, which can only be raised by beating a mini-game. You get most of your money from "special events", which are mini-games. Furthermore, all of these are fast-paced timed games, which I usually loathe particularly. To make matters worse, the game seems to have memory issues that cause it to run slower and slower as you play, so that moving the cursor feels like trying to move a large, flopping fish onto a target by pushing/pulling it across a greased floor.
Fortunately, the lag problem is solvable by saving the game and refreshing the screen, so it isn't impossible to play (Although I recommend trying this early in the game, just to make sure you won't lose your progress). As for the mini-games...well...I had fun. Much to my surprise and bewilderment, I actually had fun. Granted, I still maintain my position that mini-games should not be required for success; If I wanted to play arcade-style games, I would not google sims. But somehow, the pesky little things seemed to own the place here; they seemed almost part of the structure, as it were, and I found myself having more fun than I felt I should have been having.
More importantly, I was impressed by how the stats complemented each-other in this game. Having high intelligence unlocks more efficient ways to boost your charm; having more charm enables you to better raise your love, and love is what enables you to force your boyfriend to work harder, thus earning more money. It's downright beautiful how it all works.
TLDR:
Outsmart is a pretty unique sim that takes the idea of relationship-based games in a completely different direction than what one might expect. The story is very contemporary in a way that's both sad and hilarious. It's heavy on the mini-games and has lag issues, but despite this, it's actually very fun.
Of course, this is just what I think, and you may think I'm absolutely full of it. Feel free to state your opinions in the comments.
Availability: Free, Online/Browser
Format: Management Sim
Genre: Humor
Rating: E
My Scores: (Writing: 3.5, Art: 5, Gameplay: 3)
Found at http://keygames.com/ or http://www.kongregate.com/
Summary:
In Outsmart, you are Anneite. You and your slacker fiance Robme have been given an ultimatum by his parents: the two of you have two months to raise $50,000 dollars and get married. Otherwise, get out!
Review:
Writing:
The first interesting thing that stands out to me is the fact that this is a relationship-based game that already has you in a relationship, and a stable one at that. The story isn't about finding love or losing it. Rather, it's about the two of you getting enough financial independence to be kicked out of the nest. It's a very contemporary theme, since we live in an age where more and more adults (at least in the U.S) are still living with their parents, whether because of a lack of available jobs or because of a lack of work-related ambition. In the case of Robme, it's the latter.
At first I thought that this was either going to be the story of a nice girl being saddled with a mooching loser in the name of "Twu Wuv", or the story of a girl becoming disillusioned and kicking her boyfriend out on his rear. I was pleasantly surprised as the story of Anneite and Robme unfolded and showed that, no, this was not a lop-sided relationship. Robme may be lazy, but he's not ungrateful; and Anneite may be more ambitious, but that doesn't necessarily translate to "female role model".
The English is off, here. For a while, I thought maybe it was an intentional reference to poorly-dubbed anime, but I get the impression that English just isn't the writer's first language. Still, it's a humorous game, and the story is pretty cute.
Art:
The art and graphics are professional quality. The art suggests anime or something similar, although the characters are definitely more wonky than pretty, as in Castle Chase. Also, I find it hilarious that Robme's mother is apparently a gun-toting robot.
Gameplay:
They say that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and I find that to be remarkably true for this game.
On the one hand, it seems to be utterly dependent on mini-games: your maximum stats are determined by each stat's level, which can only be raised by beating a mini-game. You get most of your money from "special events", which are mini-games. Furthermore, all of these are fast-paced timed games, which I usually loathe particularly. To make matters worse, the game seems to have memory issues that cause it to run slower and slower as you play, so that moving the cursor feels like trying to move a large, flopping fish onto a target by pushing/pulling it across a greased floor.
Fortunately, the lag problem is solvable by saving the game and refreshing the screen, so it isn't impossible to play (Although I recommend trying this early in the game, just to make sure you won't lose your progress). As for the mini-games...well...I had fun. Much to my surprise and bewilderment, I actually had fun. Granted, I still maintain my position that mini-games should not be required for success; If I wanted to play arcade-style games, I would not google sims. But somehow, the pesky little things seemed to own the place here; they seemed almost part of the structure, as it were, and I found myself having more fun than I felt I should have been having.
More importantly, I was impressed by how the stats complemented each-other in this game. Having high intelligence unlocks more efficient ways to boost your charm; having more charm enables you to better raise your love, and love is what enables you to force your boyfriend to work harder, thus earning more money. It's downright beautiful how it all works.
TLDR:
Outsmart is a pretty unique sim that takes the idea of relationship-based games in a completely different direction than what one might expect. The story is very contemporary in a way that's both sad and hilarious. It's heavy on the mini-games and has lag issues, but despite this, it's actually very fun.
Of course, this is just what I think, and you may think I'm absolutely full of it. Feel free to state your opinions in the comments.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Love and Order
Author: ? (Seriously, why is it so hard to find credits for these things? If this were my game, I'd want my name all over it!)
Availability: Demo/$19.99 Full Version, Download
Format: Management Sim / Dating Sim
Genre: Mystery / Workplace Romance
Rating: Teen
My Scores: (Writing: 4, Art: 4.9, Gameplay: 4) out of 5
Found at http://www.otomegames.com or http://www.winterwolves.com/
Availability: Demo/$19.99 Full Version, Download
Format: Management Sim / Dating Sim
Genre: Mystery / Workplace Romance
Rating: Teen
My Scores: (Writing: 4, Art: 4.9, Gameplay: 4) out of 5
Found at http://www.otomegames.com or http://www.winterwolves.com/
Summary:
In Love and Order, you are Dana Larose, a young woman who just started work as a secretary for the understaffed Crown Attorney's office in a small district in Montreal. In addition to your demanding job and cute coworkers, there's a very mysterious case file that draws your attention.
Review:
Writing:
Right away, I found things to love in this game. It's set in Canada, which is a nice and original change from the usual settings (see other reviews for more ranting on the subject), and enough flavor is given that this actually seems like "Canada" and not "Japan with a name-change". So hooray for that! Also, I liked the little rip-off of the "Law & Order" intro. It was silly, but I liked it.
The game proper made me feel like I was actually in an attorney's office. Granted, I know very little about law and how law offices actually work, so take that assessment with a grain of salt. Still, it was more than enough for my Suspension of Disbelief to work with. What's more, I found it hilarious and, in a way, realistic how the cases your office was handling weren't glamorous cases like "The People vs. Bob 'The Decapitator' McKiller" or "The People vs. Bob McWronglyAccusedForMurderButNobodyBelievesHimNotEvenHisMother". Instead, your office handles cases like "Man accused of harassing chickens." Ladies and gentlemen, the legal system at work.
Art:
The art here is very good and well drawn, though maybe the border lines around two of the boys' hair could use a little cleaning up. The "Change location" screen contains a map that's justified in-game, which I thought was a very nice touch. Also, you can change outfits, which is somewhere between nice and pointless.
Gameplay:
Having only played the demo, I'm reluctant to give an official score on the gameplay, but what I've seen so far impresses me. You can request assignments, and sometimes opportunities for new assignments will be given to you. Doing more tasks means getting more money, but it also means more stress which can mean screwing up and failing the task altogether. It's very well balanced, I think.
The one thing that concerns me is the replay value. From what I can tell, the mystery seems pretty straight forward and linear, which means once that's solved, it probably won't need to be solved again. As for the love angle, there are four suitors, and their paths also seem pretty linear. I don't know how many endings are possible, but from here, the possibilities look fairly small. This wouldn't be a problem if the game were freeware, but since it's a commercial game, this is a very serious point to consider: Is a game you only play 4-6 times worth spending $20 on? For some people, the answer might be "Sure, why not?", but for people more like myself, a game has to be something more than just a fleeting experience in order to make me part with my hard-earned money. With Love and Order, I don't know if it can do that for me.
TLDR:
Love and Order is interesting and very well put together. It's one of the better games I've played, and I can completely understand and agree with the authors deciding to make money off of it. It's a high-quality game. What I don't know is if the apparently limited replay value is worth the price they're asking. Of course, it might just be that I'm cheap.
As usual, this is all my own opinion; you might think this game is worth a thousand dollars, or you might feel it needs to be burned and its creators fed to wolverines. Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section, free of charge. ;)
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