Category: Reviews (Page 12 of 13)

Orbicon’s Stellar Finish

January 22, 2006 / Carie Ward

Orbital Colony finished up this weekend, finally answering the question as to what happened to Orbicon scientist Steven Mae.

The beginning of the end started when players discovered Cassandra’s blog on the Inept website. The mysterious Cassandra, who looked too much like Davina for everyone’s comfort, was on the station and that she was the one who had kidnapped Steven.

With the help of the players, Seth set up a trap for Cassandra. He would put up a fake blog post saying that more information of Steven’s had been seen in the Gardens. When Cassandra showed up to collect it, he would capture her. At 7:00 EST, players were able to listen in on what was happening in the Gardens. When confronted with the fact that she was caught, Cassandra collapsed, and gave Seth a clue to Steven’s whereabouts in case something worse happened to her.

At this point, the audio connection to the station is cut. Raider, the ever resourceful SAIPets robo-dog, is able to connect to IRC and the players start to help Seth decode Cassandra’s message. The name Cassandra provides was another directory on her website. Players had to solve a couple of different number slide puzzles before they got their answer. Steven was being held in the Level 13 Biolab V.

Rushing off to save Steven, station security protocols caught up to Raider, and he had to implement additional measures to stave off detection. Upon reaching the Biolab, Seth (with Raider and Stevie in tow) finds that Igor Bronco is there waiting. Igor had known what was happening all along, thanks to his elaborate security system. Igor’s plan falls apart though when his two daughters, Cassandra and Davina, walk into the Biolab instead of his security forces. When Cassandra pulls a gun on Igor, he grabs Stevie to use as a human shield. Unfortunately for Igor, Raider’s programming to protect Stevie kicks in and he attacks Igor, saving Stevie from both Igor’s clutches and the bullet from Cassandra’s gun.

With Igor’s plan uncovered, and Steven found unharmed, the Puppet Masters were finally able to come out from behind the curtain (u:steven.mae p:FLYHGGH). We would like to congratulate everyone involved in the game for a job well done.

Responses from the players have been positive, and we look forward to any new games that this group may put together. So if you happen to see any of those brave individuals who sacrificed their time and energy into this game, be sure to congratulate them.

A post-game PM chat is in the works, although no dates and/or times have been finalized. We will have all of the details on ARGN as soon as they are announced.

Last Call for Last Call Poker

November 30, 2005 / Brooke Thompson

LCP LA 01 As many faithful readers of ARGN know, the game to play this fall was Last Call Poker, a promotion for Activisionâ€™s GUN. Created by 4orty2wo Entertainment, the innovative game provided players with 9 weeks of exciting storytelling and game play, both on- and off-line. The story was the final wish of Lionel â€œLuckyâ€ Brown, a fictional character who passed away earlier this year, and a portion of his estate was used to celebrate his life with wakes held at six of his favorite cemeteries throughout the United Sates. The final wake was held on November 19th at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. Dozens of players from throughout the United States and Canada came together to celebrate his life and play one last round of poker… Tombstone style.

Seen Steve “Implodes”

August 2, 2005 / Carie Ward

Seen Steve, the parody ARG, wrapped up over the ARGFest weekend in the only possible manner that it could: it “imploded”.

Players gathered in the #seensteve chat room, waiting for the final game timer to reach zero, when the PM (or PhooMaster) joined the room and announced the game was over as he had “homework and stuff” to do. But before he left, he gave players one last puzzle hidden in the final flash – a puzzle which would lead players to the Project Phoo FAQ and would reveal the identity of the PM.

Book Review: Beyond Reality

July 31, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

While Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by John Gosney is not “Alternate Reality Gaming for Dummies”, it certainly is a worthwhile read for anyone currently connected to ARG, as well as an invaluable resource for anyone trying to break into the genre. Similar to Dave Szulborski’s This Is Not A Game, this book opens by looking at the origins of ARG, tracing its history back to the Beast and discussing elements of The Art Of The Heist and ILoveBees. The book also dedicates sections to a guide to web design for Puppetmasters, and includes its own inclusive ARG (called Route 66) to give people an in-depth experience with Alternate Reality Gaming. The book has a university-level textbook feel to it, offering many different notes and tips throughout.

The Traveler – It’s A Series?

July 30, 2005 / Jackie Kerr

traveler There it was â€“ its silvery pinstriped cover, twinkling oddly in the fluorescent lighting, resting atop the black lacquer display shelves before me as I stumbled in the front door. I paused, catching my breath â€“ I could almost see her winking at me from behind the glistening blue sunglass lens, â€œIâ€™m here, waiting.â€

Stepping forward, momentarily detained by the security guard that seemed desirous of wishing me a good evening, I snatched a copy off of the shelves. It was in my possession â€“ that â€œrumored for monthsâ€ novel, written by the elusive John Twelve Hawks, with the delectable story-based game companion websites â€“ The Traveler.

I rushed over to the counter, whipped out my Barnes and Noble membership card (really, itâ€™s made me spend more money than itâ€™s saved me. Tricky corporate entities!), saved myself 10% off the cover price, and rushed out of the store, once again being wished a good evening by the kindly guard. It was to be a good night for at last, I had The Traveler in my possession.

The Devil’s Own Work: A Sable & Shuck Wrap-Up

July 5, 2005 / Guy Parsons

Sable & Shuck, the promotional
alternate reality game crafted by Draft
London for Stella Artois,
has finally come to its conclusion – not with a bang, not even with a
whimper, but with a wall of silence punctuated only by anguished complaints
from its players. Despite offering a Â£10,946 ($19,225) cash prize
to the player who cracked the final puzzle, the solve eluded the community
and the closing date passed without comment from behind the curtain.

A newcomer reading the post-game thoughts from the players might imagine
that S&S was an unmitigated disaster. On the contrary, the game showed
many a flash of brilliance during its rocky eight month run. Unfortunately,
however, the exceptional design and colourful premise failed to compensate
for the chronic gameplay flaws that ultimately rendered the game a much-maligned
alternate reality car crash. By squandering such high quality material
and even inspiring some players to disown the brand itself, it will live
on as a warning to would-be corporate PM’s in how seriously ‘ARGvertising’
can backfire.

So where did it all go wrong?