Day of the PIdiot
by Johan de Ruiter
http://welcome.to/jdrsoft
http://welcome.to/jdrsoft
An interesting puzzle solving game based on the number pi!
| Four of the smartest professors have been kidnapped. No one knows who could have done such a thing, but it is somehow connected to the fact that today is Pi Day. You must find the professors and save them! | |
| The design of this game is more like the old Maniac Mansion or King's Quest games, except it is more like a first-person perspective. Sort of like playing Myst except that the game doesn't require a hint guide in order to play the game. The many puzzles you have to deal with certainly would make this game need a hint guide though. The creator of this game is obsessed with the number pi and many math-related topics. The game's puzzles can be difficult if you don't know much about math. Besides the puzzles, you need to talk to people and find ways to get certain things done. I found it kind of difficult to find out what I needed to do next, and I still don't know all of it, but the game play is different from what I am used to. This game could easily have been text based, and I am glad it is not. | |
| While for the most part the game has some crudely drawn elements, the digitized pictures were pretty cool. It reminded me of playing Golden Gate, a Myst-like game that was made entirely of water-color pictures. Why it reminded me of that was the reason that most of the game had a certain look to it. While there was very little animation, the graphics added an atmosphere of "fun with math." The idea that you are in love with math and such gives this game kind of a B-rated script, sort of like a science fiction film. The graphics just made it feel kind of like the movie was there in front of you in screenshots. You can tell that the author used photos from a year book or something like that. The characters in the game are pretty blocky, but look alright. I don't know how else to explain this. | |
| Eek! A mouse! This game uses the mouse to click on places to move or select things from a menu. There is never any problem with mouse droppings. There is never any slowdown. The only thing I would have liked better was the option to bypass text. I didn't like having to read the same dialogue over and over, so a way to just skip past it would have been nice. | |
| No sound. I wonder if some kind of campy music would have complimented the graphics. | |
| Ah! I can't figure this out! I might spend too long on this game because so many of the puzzles are math related. No, not simple stuff. Complex trig stuff. Pi stuff. Geometry stuff that I don't remember. I would have liked it if the game would have told me more about what I am supposed to do next. I hate how Myst doesn't allow you to get through the game without a hint book. What kind of a game doesn't let you play the game? There are places in the game like that in PIdiot, where you don't know who to talk to or how to get an item or do something special. Still, I found the game incredibly challenging. | |
| I found the little jokes to be funny, and I had fun trying to figure out some of the puzzles. I was wondering about one though...anyway, there is little to complain about. | |
| I think that this game was well done. The graphics were nice and complimented the story and theme. No music or sound, but that is ok. The game could be a little too complex for me, but it requires a bit of knowledge and thinking to get through. This is not for the impatient. I would recommend it to you if you could handle being told you're wrong about something you thought you knew was right. Sort of like a math test, only more fun. | |
| .zip file: 527KB download |