I love text based games and I love female protag games but I can't give this more than 3 stars.
There are some great ideas here and the execution in a lot of ways is impressive.
The main issue is, I was reading through this game for around an hour and, because of the way the game set up, basically none of the characters you interact with are developed.
Because it simulates growing up in so much detail, you get introduced to characters and situations that are interesting and then it just flashes forwards several years to something new until you get to college.
It just kind of feels like your reading the diary of a teenage girl for a lot of it and there is little character development outside of yourself.
The writer of this game is talanted, but in my opinion the beginning should be almost completely scrapped and just jump straight into college after you create your character.
Then it should focus on developing your relationships with other characters and telling an interesting story with changes based on your choices in the character creator.
As, in writing, there are no stakes to stories where a random girl named jessica did x thing. Whereas, if Jessica formed a relationshp with the MC and we got to know her and we got to know the person she was doing x thing with and some of their friends, then x thing becomes an interesting thing to the reader.
Most of this game feels like reading about characters you know almost nothing about. This game really needs some character development.
The title of this games says: "American Spy Thriller", from what I played, there was no spying, or working for a spy agency at all. Maybe that happens later but by the time I got there I was too bored I had to stop playing.
This may come across a bit harsh, as the game is really good in some ways, it's just my opinion.
And, I also think not showing why your character is reacting in some ways is a bit of a mistake. If I knew that a choice I made earlier in the game was affecting the MC, at least I could get a sense of the MC's character development based on my choices.
Also, creating a game this ambitious seems like a nightmare amount of work. The branching paths and dialogue almost have to be puddle deep in order to allow for the developer to have time to complete it.
TL;DR:
Pros:
- This game has some really ambitious and interesting ideas
- The writing of the game is in some ways quite good
- The character creator and "paperdoll" or whatever system looks really nice
Cons:
- Game kinda feels like your reading a teenage girls life story in her diary
- Game doesn't allow you to see how your choices in the character creator affect the MC (other than multiple playthroughs)
- Because of the way the story tries to tell a complicated origin story of the MC, you never develop any relationships with other characters (maybe you do later, but I played an hour)
- Because of the lack of character development, you might read "omg did you hear that Jessica was backstabbing Sarah?" and you either don't know who they are at all or have a very faint idea of them so you just don't care about what's happening.
There are some great ideas here and the execution in a lot of ways is impressive.
The main issue is, I was reading through this game for around an hour and, because of the way the game set up, basically none of the characters you interact with are developed.
Because it simulates growing up in so much detail, you get introduced to characters and situations that are interesting and then it just flashes forwards several years to something new until you get to college.
It just kind of feels like your reading the diary of a teenage girl for a lot of it and there is little character development outside of yourself.
The writer of this game is talanted, but in my opinion the beginning should be almost completely scrapped and just jump straight into college after you create your character.
Then it should focus on developing your relationships with other characters and telling an interesting story with changes based on your choices in the character creator.
As, in writing, there are no stakes to stories where a random girl named jessica did x thing. Whereas, if Jessica formed a relationshp with the MC and we got to know her and we got to know the person she was doing x thing with and some of their friends, then x thing becomes an interesting thing to the reader.
Most of this game feels like reading about characters you know almost nothing about. This game really needs some character development.
The title of this games says: "American Spy Thriller", from what I played, there was no spying, or working for a spy agency at all. Maybe that happens later but by the time I got there I was too bored I had to stop playing.
This may come across a bit harsh, as the game is really good in some ways, it's just my opinion.
And, I also think not showing why your character is reacting in some ways is a bit of a mistake. If I knew that a choice I made earlier in the game was affecting the MC, at least I could get a sense of the MC's character development based on my choices.
Also, creating a game this ambitious seems like a nightmare amount of work. The branching paths and dialogue almost have to be puddle deep in order to allow for the developer to have time to complete it.
TL;DR:
Pros:
- This game has some really ambitious and interesting ideas
- The writing of the game is in some ways quite good
- The character creator and "paperdoll" or whatever system looks really nice
Cons:
- Game kinda feels like your reading a teenage girls life story in her diary
- Game doesn't allow you to see how your choices in the character creator affect the MC (other than multiple playthroughs)
- Because of the way the story tries to tell a complicated origin story of the MC, you never develop any relationships with other characters (maybe you do later, but I played an hour)
- Because of the lack of character development, you might read "omg did you hear that Jessica was backstabbing Sarah?" and you either don't know who they are at all or have a very faint idea of them so you just don't care about what's happening.