Create your own Interactive Fiction

  Member Reviews - Back To Life... Unfortunately

10 Ratings 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (7) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (0) 1 star:  (0)

Average Member Rating (10 member ratings)

Share your thoughts with other members: Sign in to review

In concept, a game about suicide shouldn't be this funny, but there you have it. Mr. Whyld's wacky, over-the-top style of comedy swings left and right here, landing many blows. For me, most of the laughs came from the exchanges between the protagonist and his High Chancellor Verenor, who refuses (despite insistence and the evidence of many attempts) to recognize that the King wishes to die and stay dead and keeps on getting him resurrected while punishing others for the King's many deaths. Give it a play... if you've hit a death or two without managing to laugh, maybe this game isn't for you. But then maybe you've also had your funny bone surgically removed recently?

There are one or two guess the verb bits in here, one of which is actually a puzzle in itself solved by inductive reasoning, the other of which is a true aggravation because you're likely to hit on so many syntaxes that *should* work, but don't. Luckily, the game includes plentiful documentation and hints, as well as a built-in walkthrough which there is no shame in consulting (if you're like me, the proper syntax for one verb is a real forehead slapper... shoulda thought of it earlier). If you're curious, the author even invites players to view the game's source code.

To get a full score, one needs to find all of the game's possible deaths. Some are a little obscure, but reward thorough investigation of the environment. It's not a game anyone is likely to beat with the best score on the first time through, but it is likely to be enjoyable even without reaching an ending or getting all of the deaths (although the last death really is the icing on the cake).

I can't speak for how the affect holds on multiple playthroughs, but if you find new deaths on every playthrough, you're likely to feel rewarded.

Recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
  Good Game!, Mon 3rd Jan 2005
By Cannibal - See all my reviews

This is a highly amusing and fairly original game. The premise is that you have been resurrected by your people to save them and adminster their affairs. However, you were quite content being dead and intend to stay dead.

So begins the quest for treasure? Right? Wrong!

Toss away your bunch of keys and oil lanterns and [MINOR SPOILER] throw yourself off the balcony because the only way you will win this game is by killing yourself numerous times and ensuring you stay dead.

The map is quite small - although it seems bigger - and this is due to the often lengthy and well detailed (and well written) locations packed with static objects that can be examined further and interacted with, as well. The humour is at the right slant and there is a perverse fun in trying to kill yourself over and over again. In fact, I can’t think of a piece of IF where the quest is death (yours).

So, is it any good?

Yes, it’s good, very good, in fact. And, to be truth, a bit too good to just have been released during another dry spell for Adrift games. This is the kind of game that might have fared well in a competition (possibly the IF one) due to its quality and original plot. A few rough bits here and there but no game is perfect and nothing detracts for the enjoyment factor.

7.5/10

Cannibal

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
  A fun game, Mon 20th Dec 2004
By KFAdrift - See all my reviews

One of the few games this year where the premise interested me enough to play it. As I have a liking for the antiquities of Ancient Egypt, the setting was a real hook.

One or two loose ends, which may have been tied up since I played it, made for a bit of guess the verb. Think I would have the apples removed after the suicide attempt with them, rather than just them being used again.

As others have said the fun is in working out what way to try and kill yourself next. It may have a limited life span, but will provide some real amusement in the meantime.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
  A well written adventure with an unusual plot:- to kill yourself... and stay dead!, Mon 20th Dec 2004
By Anonymous - See all my reviews

Although there are only a few rooms, there’s plenty to do and plenty of things to kill yourself with (if you can work out how ;). The adventure is well written in a comical manner and should have you letting out a few chuckles, there’s next to no guess-the-verb and everything can be examined.

The puzzles are logical, but there are a few parts that will have you scratching your head, one involving a ceiling and one summoning guards (this one I had no idea about and only found out by reading the walkthrough and must say that I would have never finished it without the walkthrough).

But still a great game, go on, give it a go, you probably do a lot better than I did :)

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
  Brilliant story, but needs some final polish, Wed 1st Feb 2012
By Campbell - See all my reviews

This is a great game. The story is original, the writing very humorous, and it is very enjoyable to play.

As I got further into the game I got completely stuck in a couple of places with Guess the Verb problems. In fact I had typed the correct phrase at one point but was rewarded with the default "try something else" response because I wasn't holding a particular object. Had a restriction failure message been added I would have known straight away and been able to continue.

There are a couple of other little niggles and I think if an update was made to fix these then I would class this as one of the best games for ADRIFT. In its present state I can only award it 4/5.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
  What a terrific game!, Wed 13th Jul 2005
By thatguy - See all my reviews

I enjoyed this one immensely! There are a few minor GTV issues but all in all a terrific effort.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
  Thu 16th Dec 2004
By Lumin - See all my reviews

An entertaining game with an original premise. There are a few small annoyances that will hopefully be cleaned up in subsequent versions, but for the most part ’Back to Life’ is a funny and well-written game with a lot of attention to detail. I haven’t played many of DavidW’s other games, so I don’t know how this ranks with his previous efforts, but I had a great time figuring out the various methods of committing suicide (it’s not as morbid as it sounds :P) and only wish I could have taken a certain NPC with me...