| The Election | |
| by Nick Jones | |
| Brett Bixler’s Review | |
This BoE scenario is a distinct departure from your usual hack-’n-slasher. Using a pre-existing save file, you enter the adventure as Vandell, a single, rather weak character who must save the town of Refuge from electing a ruthless individual to office. A unique plot, carefully crafted from start to finish, makes this a scenario worth playing. Unfortunately, it is still rough around the edges, with the feeling it was rushed to make the second scenario contest deadline.
One word of advice to Mac users. This review is based on version 1.0.0 of this scenario. This version is — for all intents and purposes — impossible to play on a Mac. There are over a dozen conversational dialogs that are too long to fit in the dialog box, and due to the nature of how that text is delivered, coupled with (yet another!) BoE bug, it is impossible to use the “record the text then look at it via the ‘See Talking Notes’ menu choice” trick. Hopefully the author will correct this situation in the next revision.
This story DEFINITELY reacts to the actions of the player. Your actions have both immediate and lasting effects on the play of the game. Of all the scenarios out there attempting to do this, this one does it best.
This scenario offers challenges in the form of convincing certain townspeople to change their vote from the evil Nash to the competent Mayor Vogel. Each person must be convinced in a different way. To add complexity to the situation, you can decide to run as a third candidate! There are no quests or side missions, although one non-playing character has a puzzle for you to solve that has no effect on the game.
The design of the town of Refuge is a real treat. Divided into two sections, you experience real day and night adventure! During the day, the town is lit, during night it’s dark. To be successful, you have to do the right thing at the right time of day (or night).
Sounds could be used to a much greater effect in this scenario. For example, towards the end of the game you can call for a vote by rapping on a table three times. A sound effect at this point would have amplified the entire situation.
Spelling and grammar errors unfortunately exist in this scenario. Perhaps the author will correct them for the next update.
A complete solution to the scenario is included. Because some solutions require you to type in key words while talking to characters, this is an absolutely necessary item. Many words that would make sense in a real conversation simply won’t work here; you need to be very specific. This can be very frustrating. Perhaps in a future update the author can increase the number of key words that will be accepted as “correct” words.
The download I received contained a .meg file for Macintosh, but it was damaged. Fortunately, I was able to fix it, but most users will not have the tools or the expertise to do so.
Other bugs exist in this scenario as well. One time I awoke in the morning, took a dozen steps, and was told it was almost night time! As this is a time-based scenario, such bugs are devastating. More beta testing of this scenario, especially on the Macintosh platform, was needed on this scenario prior to public release.
One nice feature that quickly becomes annoying is the chronic disease your one character suffers from. You have the means to treat this disease, but it occurs at random intervals, sometimes only two turns apart. This feature would be implemented far better if it occurred every 50–80 turns instead of the random method currently used.
The other unfortunate aspect of this scenario is that the author (in a message posted to the Lyceum’s BBS) states he is essentially finished with BoE, and plans to return to his text-based adventure roots. If this is indeed the case, the necessary updates this scenario needs may never be implemented.
Overall, this scenario is like a huge shining diamond — with some crucial flaws. Until the problems mentioned above are fixed, Mac users will be quite frustrated playing this scenario, and players on both platforms will be annoyed by the tiny problems previously mentioned.
My overall score for this scenario — 7.5.
— Brett Bixler