Crane's Short Reviews

[Darmian]

40 minutes ago, TerroirNoir said:

Hmm. Not only is @cranebump apparently writing four excellent AEs PER DAY, he's now overtaking me in the one thing I know how to do on this damn forum!  Insert Muttley noises about here.

I think the two different styles of reviews complement each other.  Although I don't even know if @TerroirNoir's style IS a review, more the ongoing "Adventures of Engineria".

[cranebump]

23 hours ago, TerroirNoir said:

Hmm. Not only is @cranebump apparently writing four excellent AEs PER DAY, he's now overtaking me in the one thing I know how to do on this damn forum!  Insert Muttley noises about here.

Noooooo. Not even close. I am a pale shadow of your transcendent Enginerianess.:-)

[cranebump]

Slow on the updates here. My work week expanded from 4 days to 5, and requires a great deal more brainspace than before. Should be back in the swing of it soon.

 

(but man, am I tired of being tired...it's ridiculous).

[cranebump]

CONTRACT: Indentured Insurgents [ID 54163] by @Dracses

This 2023, 3-mission, L24-30 arc places you in the role of mercenary stepping into a situation involving everyone’s favorite bomb-tossing miners and Arachnos. You start out by “subduing” the Scrappies while rescuing a supervisor. Your services are then retained to look further into things, where, of course, it’s Transformer-ville (er…more than meets the eye).

 

Clever use of: friendly bosses to deliver ambiance; friendly Defend Object as critter spawners; ambushes to keep you on your toes; renaming of supplies as “Protester Barricades” [liked that one a lot]); protester banter; the rivalry between the contact and and an NPC named Milano (Extra points for an American Psycho ref [“fancy business cards”):-); enemy bosses delivering key plot details (so that don’t you don't get massive text pop ups all over the screen (since it triggers by engaging the non-objective boss directly); reskinning objects to fit the story. Just lots of nice little details. 

 

Design issues? Oh, yeah. There’s an incomplete clue in M1 (“Some of the protesters mentioned…” and we never find out who). Repetition of popup and end mish text (both M1 and M2 had this–they end pop and the mish end text is exactly the same). LOOOONG activation timers on final mish glowies (15 seconds. Each). A passel of glowies with no end text (M2). Missing search bar text on the actual M2 glowie objective, followed by Find Mission Exit, but nothing much to fight through (nothing that I saw anyway). Then there’s the past-tense mention of by the contact in M3 of what is ACTUALLY being mined, while I saw no clue of this in the mish preceding it , leading to the exchange: “Remember, we’re mining __________.” (Remember? This is the first I’ve heard of it!). Oh, and…a cake map. Boo.:-)

 

On the whole, I LIKE this story idea. A LOT. I like that the text is clean and clear (edited). I like seeing the Scrapyarders. The plot twist is pretty clever, too. There’s great development of the contact’s personality, and really nice scene setting in M1. But, on the whole, it just not finished yet. Minor design flaws prevent this from shining as bright as it could. As such, we have a Seal of Approval with a very nice sheen on one side, while the other could stand a burnish.

 

PLAY THIS IF: You like to mix it up with Scrapyarders. You're a fan of good character writing. You like glowing green crystals. 

 

NOTE: @Dracses has a dozen stories, many of them created in 2024. Making a note to try another sometime.

[VioLight]

Thank you for this!