Recent reviews by zerojfb

Easy to misjudge the game becuase of the voluptuous protagonist but this is a bona fide FPS Metroidvania with good puzzles, intense combat an no hand-holding (this metroidvania does not have a map and you need to choose the saves carefully). Throws you back to the NES Megaman. Punishing. No help. Die and die again. Great game. Had lots of fun

THIS IS NOT A GAME. That needs to be made clear because someone expecting a game of some sort will be disappointed. It's not even a point and click that requires any thinking. This cannot even be compared to Phoenix Wright. This is a book with digital pictures and voice-work and rare animation. It is aptly described as a digital adaptation. How do we set it apart from a book with pictures? Sound, voice-work and interactive page-turning.

That said, here's the review: WHAT IT DOES, IT DOES VERY WELL. The sounds are crisp and very effective, the voice-work is professional level and well cast, the artwork is beautiful, the pictures (i think they are retrieved from actual existing sources of non-fiction, such as newspapers, museums, etc.) go the distance and the work put in to get them shows, to me, the passion with which this work was made. The soundtrack is also excellent and hightens the mood.

I enjoyed the craftsmanship here.

The thing is, it does harm to both the worlds it draws upon:

- as an interactive game, it never challenges you, never makes you think, never puzzles you, nor does it require any skill to advance.
- as a book, since you don't go through it at the rate you read a book, at the pace the author envisioned, it ends up not being as thrilling. Plus, it gives sound and image to something that never lives up to the reader's imagination, a common complaint in film adaptations.
You could say that, like a film, that's bound to happen. The difference is, when you're making a film, no matter how faithful to the source material, it frees itself from it because the author of the film knows it's a new medium and that, in that respect, it's something new. It's the film's author approach.
Here, since it's just a helping visualization, there's never that approach. Just images, sounds and transitions.

To sum up, this is a very well made digital adaptation. Go through it and you'll see the passion about the project and the tremendous respect for the book. I loved this because i spent every second appreciating the level of craftsmanship (my hat's off to thee, Simon Meek. I'll buy the next one) and the fine words of a great book, but, since i'm on Steam, i'd suggest either reading a book or playing a game. Those of you just wanting to play a game or reading a book will end up frustrated both counts here...