Avrom's Comp Reviews, Part 0

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Hi all,

Well, if my clock is right, the judging period is over. Which means
it's now safe to post reviews of those games I played.

Unfortunately, this was far from all of them. About three weeks ago, I
discovered that I was going to have to move by the end of this
month...which pretty much put an end to any judging activity on my
part. I'm actually posting now not because I'm champing at the bit,
but because I'm about to lose personal access to the net for a week or
so as my computer and phone are moved to my new home. So...sigh. These
revies cover just 15 games. The reviews are fairly long, so I'll keep
it to 5 games per post.

A couple of notes about my scores and reviews:

First, the scores: I normalize my scores. This means that I give my
favorite game a 10, my least favorite a 1, and distribute my scores
roughly evenly throughout that scale. I could go into a long
discussion of why I do this, but I won't, unless anyone is really
curious. So I'll just point out that I do, and mention the consequence
that a rating of 10 doesn't necessarily mean I thought the game was
perfect, nor does a rating of 1 mean I thought it was utterly
unredeemable. The scores should be taken in the context of *this
competition*, and specifically of the 15 games I played.

Next, the reviews: These aren't really reviews. They're the notes I
took as I was playing the games. That means that they're a mishmash of
feedback for authors, impressions for potential players, and emoting
for myself. I try to avoid spoilers, but I don't promise anything on
this front.

The games I played, in the (random) order I played them (sorry to
those whose games I didn't get to):

The Realm
Zero One
Square Circle
Blue Chairs
The Orion Agenda
Goose, Egg, Badger
All Things Devours
A Light's Tale
Blink
I Must Play
Luminous Horizon
Order
A Day in the Life of a Super Hero
Typo
PTBAD 3