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Blue ChairsAuthor: Chris KlimasLanguage: z-code Score: 10
Summary:
A wild, surreal ride through reflection, regret, and redemption.
Writing:
Comparisons to Plotkin's So Far are probably inevitable. While that
game has the player travelling to realms that feel quite alien, Blue
Chairs manages to feel even more surreal by freely mixing the peculiar
with the mundane, producing an atmosphere all the more bizarre due to
its contrasts. The end result has a sort of Twin Peaks vibe to it. I
for one loved the writing in Blue Chairs. And it fits the story
perfectly. Thankfully, I felt motivated at nearly every step of the
way, so the game never really left me floundering for what to do next.
Technical:
There were only a couple of technical issues that I encountered.
First, there ended up being two blue keys in my inventory, one of them
being ornate. Disambiguation was a problem, as there was no distinct
way to reference the non-ornate key when the game asked me which I
meant. The other issue involved the bank vault door, which can
apparently be put into an unopenable state if you turn the dial to a
wrong number. (I think the author said that there was a way to reset
the dial, but I haven't been able to locate that newsgroup post.)
Fun:
I had great fun with this game. The action did slow down a bit in the
Mini-Mart, as I found myself turning to the hints a bit more. This was
related to the problem I encountered with the vault door, as described
above. Still, that whole section reminded me of the narcotized
sequences in Max Payne, where you run through a series of drug-warped
rooms depicting events from your memories. Some complained that this
section was a maze, which is just silly to me. There are a lot of
rooms, but the exits are plainly visible and the rooms are all
different. It's confusing, yes, just not at all difficult to map.
Finally, there are multiple endings and the one I prefer I found to be
immensely satisfying. The only letdown afterwards was the lack of
author's notes afterwards.
Final score: 10
High point:
I would have to say the "run through the snow" ending. It still gets
to me when I go back and re-read the transcript.
Low point:
Aww, no author's notes?
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