Robert DeFord

My initial impression was that there was not enough interaction to suit me, but the game is engaging in its own way. You can't interact with the people you meet, nor can you modify or explore the game locations you find yourself in, I think that the game takes place on a subway system someplace in England, All I had to go on was the names of the stations, but that's about all I had to go on. Location descriptions are simply the name of the station. A train is just that-- a train, differentiated from other trains by the name of it's line. I should add that, every now and then, there are sounds and sparse statements that lend some feeling of atmosphere. It is a minimalist approach to be sure, and I'm not sure I liked it, but I can see where some people would.

 

Your sole means of control over the game is clicking on links since there is no command parser. Actually this approach to IF is fine with me, provided the links give me a sense of control over the game world and my experiences there. And, I must say that Moquette did give me that sense, but I kept wanting more interaction with the virtual reality I found myself in. But how to do that? I must admit, having only a few links to choose from did keep the game moving along. But even so, the pace of the game was too slow for me with too much blah blah blah and too much uninvited and somewhat self-absorbed introspection by the protagonist.

 

You see, basically, all you can do in this game is read the protagonist's thoughts because you're privey to a kind of internal dialog that goes on in his mind. You have some degree of control over the content of this dialog by clicking on links. And, to be fair, this dialog, and my link choices, did seem to lead me through a story that revealed itself as I went along. And, sometimes, the protagonist actually talked to me about the choices I was 'forcing' him to make that were contrary to what he wanted to do in the story. For example:

 

"Is that it? Just stand here? Don't complain, know my place? Don't choose life — choose not to choose?

 

Why do you want me to do that? Who says you're in charge?"

 

Interesting approach, eh? The IF author is always faced with the nearly insurmountable difficulties of steering or 'clueing' the reader/player through the narrative in a way that makes sense, unless the game is simply a string of puzzles of course. This author, in this game, choose a fairly heavy-handed approach to the clueing process with these asides to me that sort of broke the four wall. Also, the protagonist has a slowly increasing headache, moments of disorientation, and even a blackout, that served to guide me through the narrative to its conclusion. And, though I did not draw a map of the subway system, I suspect that all routes through it eventually lead to the same destination where the game ends, though some routes were likely longer than others.

 

As I played the game, I was slowly (very slowly) lead to believe that all was not what it seemed to be. The protagonist was not an extension of myself. The world around me was not the true world, and so on. Nothing ominous, mind you, just the growing sense that something was going on that was definitely not normal. If you've ever seen an episode of The Twilight Zone, then you know the feeling. The game's conclusion was true to that spirit. It did reveal all, and I did get that 'ah ha' moment. However, enough was left unsaid that I was left with some speculations.