After I finish a game, and complete writing my review that goes here, I go scrouging around for other reviews of the same game to see if I missed something important and if I think like most people (always a good feeling on the internet). So, here are other reviews BY GAME of ones I’ve played:
The Lighthouse: Emily Short, Aric, Michael Martin (link includes other reviews), Another Mister Lizard, Nitku, Sarah Morayati, Jenni, Riff, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
Afflicted: Victor Gijsbers, ralphmerridew (link includes other reviews), Nitku, Stephen Bond, Merk, Jenni, Riff, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
Freedom: Emily Short, Michael Martin (link includes other reviews), Aric, Gemma Bristow, Sarah Morayati, Stephen Bond, Jenni, Riff, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
Grief: Emily Short, Nitku, Sarah Morayati, Jenni, Riff, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
Riverside: Emily Short, Peter Nepstad (link includes other reviews), Another Mister Lizard, Nitku, Merk, Jenni, Riff, Imrihamun, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
A Date With Death: Nitku, Jenni, Imrihamun, Carl Muckenhoupt, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
Project Delta: Michael Martin (link includes other reviews), Victor Gijsbers, Skeet (link includes other reviews), Joshua H., Merk, Imrihamun, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
April in Paris: Emily Short, Peter Nepstad (link includes other reviews), Gemma Bristow, Skeet (link includes other reviews), ralphmerridew (link includes other reviews), Wesley Osam, Stephen Bond, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
The Absolute Worst IF Game in History: Emily Short, Michael Martin (link includes other reviews), Peter Nepstad (link includes other reviews), J. Robinson Wheeler, Skeet (link includes other reviews), ralphmerridew (link includes other reviews), Nick Bronson, Nitku, Sarah Morayati, Stephen Bond (link includes other reviews), Jenni, Riff, Carl Muckenhoupt, Lucy (link includes other reviews)
…mostly stolen from Emily Short’s great list of IF reviewers. I skipped the ones not in English. I’m sorry.
October 11, 2008 at 11:36 am
This is such a good idea. Any chance you’d be willing to post and maintain this list at intfiction.org — for instance, as a second post in the top “sticky” where complete review sets are linked? I’ve already gotten unintentional spoilers for other games just because they’re unavoidable on some blogs. What I really need is exactly what you’ve provided — a list of individual and directly-linked reviews *per game*!
October 11, 2008 at 11:38 am
Oh — I just realized — you can’t. And for the same reason that *I* can’t. We haven’t played all the games, so hunting around for direct links to reviews for *every* game would give us spoilers, scores, etc. Drats.
October 11, 2008 at 11:58 am
Yeah… I still spoiled myself a bit getting these! I figured I’ll do 10 more games or so here, then search for reviews of those.
At first I thought it was silly to cut-tag reviews, but it’s a shame if I haven’t even opened the game and seeing someone else’s score already colors my opinion of it.
October 11, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Thank you for doing this — I was hoping somebody would. I can see how maintaining a master list would lead to spoiler probs, but even a list of reviews for the games you’ve reviewed is helpful. I have an idea about this that I’ll run by Merk.
October 11, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Good luck! Honestly I was hoping the intfiction.org forum would just make a thread about each game in the IF Comp 08 forum, and say, “Only read/post in the individual threads if you’ve played the game!”
October 11, 2008 at 11:31 pm
That might have been a good idea, yeah. This is only the second year open discussion has been allowed by the rules, so it’s a learning process.
I’ve seen scores and opinions, too, in the process of looking for reviews for the ones I’ve already played. One in particular keeps getting mentioned with high praise and high marks, and I can’t help but be influenced by that.
One downside to the open discussion is that in years past, there was a six-week mystery surrounding the competition. Presumably, a fair amount of private discussion was going on, but it was always a mystery to me. When it came time for the results, it was like opening a Christmas package. Now, after maybe a week, enough reviewers have commented on enough games that it’s probably obvious which one(s) have the highest probability of winning or coming close.