[You can get all of Duncan Stevens' SmoochieComp reviews through this link.]
Joan of Arc, a childhood friend, and a certain admirer. You only get one perspective as player, but a bunch of other folks chime in now and again, so you get a lot of views on things. What things? Oh, a lot of things. Funny--there are not one but two historically based games in the SmoochieComp, but this one doesn't feel as confining as 1981, even though the end is just as inevitable. The difference is that some of the details within the historical narrative here are fictionalized, I guess, so it doesn't necessarily feel like you could get the same thing from picking up a history book.
Very clever--possibly even too clever; there are a few too many ideas crammed into one short game here. You've got the spin on the player-PC relationship, you've got the two romances, such as they are, and then you have these dead-end theological tiffs going on, some of which fit into the plot and some of which feel kind of extraneous. I mean, sensory overload. But they're all ideas worth exploring, don't get me wrong. I'd just like to see them, how shall I say, developed a little more. Specifically, some of the theological questions that are posed--well, they're questions. They have answers, which should lead to more questions, etc. If this tells me anything about what a Christian IF game could/should be, it's that, if difficult questions get chewed on, there should be some attempt to chew on them from more than one perspective. (And, ideally, the game shouldn't end up completely dissing one perspective after introducing it.)
Also, the admirer's choice at the end--I wouldn't call it hackneyed, but we have seen it a few times in recent years in Hollywood. That doesn't make it off limits, but, mmmm, it would be nice to see a little more put into it (the whys and hows and whether the character comes to regret the choice and perhaps the reactions of a few others), given that it's somewhat trodden ground.
Enough criticism--this is a good idea, with one great meta-IF moment. If the story is sort of on rails, well, it's not a major tragedy; what the player lacks in things to do, he or she gains in things to think about, and there's not a lot of action as such anyway in the main plot.
Bottom line: four bittersweet smooches.
Email me at: katsaris@gmail.com
Last updated: 01 Apr 2002
