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      CommentAuthorMono
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2007
     permalink

    Fate by numbers is a game made by some Dutch students. It's a sci-fi noir adventure game, the point and click type like those old lucas arts games. I've only played a little bit, but it's quite good so far, all the talking and moving of characters has been filmed in front of a green screen with some background edited in afterwards. It gives it quite a special look.

    It's only for Windows, and the download is big. 1.2GB (or 0.8GB for the "small" version), so unless you have uncapped broadband you might want to skip this one.

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      CommentAuthorWallsy
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2007
     permalink

    I just finished playing it and my recommendation is don't bother. It's not so much a game as a poorly made film where you have to click things.

    The visual style and interface shows a lot of promise — a very good game could be made in this style. Unfortunately, this isn't it. The "puzzles" consist of clicking arbitrary objects without any real logic behind it, the challenge consisting of numerous red-herrings that make no more nor less sense than the actual solutions.

    The acting was poor — about what you'd expect from a group of students working for free, but tolerable.

    It took me about twice as long to download it as it did to play, and the only time I felt like I was actually playing a game was for a few seconds near the end where you get to make the only two decisions in the game. In a game like this, a fixed storyline is to be expected, but it should feel like you're making choices or at least doing something that makes sense, but they completely failed in that regard. The character does what she wants to do, and your actions don't have anything to do with that.

    The worst point was when I had to use the tracking device and couldn't figure out how. Turns out the game designers couldn't figure that out either because the solution is to not use it at all and just go to the place the character guesses the target is heading, and then attempt to use a vending machine you already know to be broken. I had to look that bit up on the internet, because it makes absolutely no sense. The rest of the game is slightly better, but not by enough.

    On top of that, the storyline was clearly written by someone who liked Gattaca way too much and couldn't come up with an original idea and who has no idea how to write a story that makes sense. The characters lack motivation, the dialogue is terrible and plot elements are just totally abandoned without resolution. Also, it seems they've tried to cram way too much into too short a time.

    So, the visual style and the interface are great, but everything else sucks.

    Wallsy.

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      CommentAuthorMono
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007
     permalink

    I've played it through now as well. It's definitely more of an interactive movie than a game, and yeah perhaps not the greatest thing ever but I'm glad I played it. I have broadband and don't really care if I download 1MB or 1GB, it'll take a little bit longer to download but meh who cares.