Reviews - tpapastylianou

It's games like this that make me think mods are they way forward in game innovation. Excellent work! Thank you for a great game!

Great total conversion mod. Very immersive storyline. Good voice acting. Good textures / visuals. Nice puzzles. Gripping ending. Looking forward to the second part! :)

I can honestly say this game was a masterpiece! Provided it is approached as what it is, that is, a short piece on the senselessness of war. I find it sad reading some of the 'reviews' below (presumably from kids) who completely miss the point and are all too trigger-happy to mark it down. It is without a doubt one of the most realistic (in emotion) yet at the same time dramatic depictions of war I have ever experienced, let alone in a game. True, the dinosaurs subtract from this realism, but I felt they added a nice surrealist element, which added to the confusion, raw emotion and violence of war.

Stylistically, all the choices were impeccable; the black and white mode, the grainy screen, the camera movements, the ambience, the soldiers crying out in the background. That tiny gasp and shallow breaths you make when you decide to rip a man's arm off. The spasmodic and frantic reaction when you get hit by shrapnel (contrast this, for instance with mainstream games, when the screen jerks a bit and goes slightly red on one side, and that's about it). How Solveig's lied, a soothing song of love and adoration, is superimposed on this horrible setting. And the ending ... superb. The best depiction of a hellish battlefield I could ever expect to see. The pointlessness of your escape hits you like a ton of bricks!

I did not mind the scattered letters being in German, though I can read a bit of German, which I admit greatly added to my appreciation of the backstory and setting. I do agree, however, that it adds to the atmosphere of the game, and the game is very atmospheric indeed.

So, 10/10 for what it is. Don't expect a 5-day long epic WW1-themed saga. Do expect a brilliant, short, powerful poem in game form, that will submerge you in deep thought about the senselessness of war, accompanied by a quick shot of adrenaline for that extra 'kick'.

The fact you did this in less than a month is the cherry on the cake for me. Truly well done! I'm off to play this again!

Thanks

I really enjoyed it this game. It was a bit simple at times (such as, relatively easy to trick the monsters, which wasn't a bad thing necessarily, heheh), but not necessarily a 'simple' game overall. Voice acting was superb, I had chills when Stephanie was saying how afraid she was in that cave recording. Music is excellent, really picked up the game to the next level. Some of the complaints I see below (strifing, etc) were obvious stylistic choices, so I didn't mind. Though it would have been helpful if you had subtitles and allowed keys to be reconfigured. The plot was a bit disjointed (and suffered from the usual mod affliction of 'lets start with a mere premise as opposed to a proper plot setting) but got nicely fleshed-out (pun not intended) as you progressed. The puzzles were a bit disconnected from the main plot (it seemed to me like they were trying to make them reminiscent of some of the genre-defining games like RE, but not much effort went into making them relevant to the plot, itself), but in general it was very atmospheric. All in all, a great game. Perhaps not *the* best mod I've played, but certainly one of the better ones that I'll recommend to friends.

I swear, the Modding scene has surprised me again and again with its innovation and artistic-focus, at a time where the commercial scene is leaving me a bit 'meh' from their generic, cashflow-oriented thinking.