Adventures Of Tenchi Muyo (Demo) by Michael W. Marquez

Review by B.J. Best

The utter lack of story and rational progression of events really hampers this game. What are you trying to do? Where are you trying to go? The game never answers these questions for the player because I believe the author hasn't thought of answers at this point.

Talking to different characters is fine, but it really doesn't do anything for you. There are really only two puzzles in the game, and both involve the characters. The first is to retrieve a part for Washu, which is very simple, and the second is Washu's test in the cave, which is so utterly pointless and simply trial and error will let you prevail.

The map is not particularly well-designed and sometimes counter-intuitive (how does going east and then north from the front yard put you back in the front yard?). The duplicity of locations in the object window (so that you can "go to" most places, in addition to just going in the appropriate direction) is annoying.

The descriptions of rooms, objects, and characters and the dialogue are serviceable but certainly could be embellished.

Ultimately, the author needs to figure out some goals for the game and then communicate them to the player. There's not much fun in pointless wandering around.

Review by Mihalis "DarkAng3l" Georgostathis

>> It is almost a role playing game! Just no fighting in it...<<

After pulling myself together, being upset was the result of this statement, I have to say one single thing: AM I MISSING SOMETHING? WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE? WHAT'S THE WHOLE PURPOSE?
The game is very similar to the first one. Reviewing the previous game I gave it a rating of 1. Not much improvement has come since then, but I feel obligued to give a higher rating, because the game was a little better. What is bad is the obcurity of the plot and not knowing the characters of the game. To my eyes, the game is still a pointless interaction with totally unfamiliar characters in a poorly described enviroment. Authors better understand that text adventures are similar to literature: Some detail in the description is never bad.
I am looking forward to playing the full game, hoping it would be more structured and less obscure.

DarkAng3l

Review by Mocha Man and Eager Elmer

This game has a great, cheery atmosphere and is very fun to play. However, there is really no objective on the whole. It really means demo when it says it, because I explored the full potential of the game in about ten minutes.

Pros: Easy navigation, fun interaction with other characters, happy atmosphere.

Cons: Annoying red and black color scheme, and Washu's test (you'll see if you play it). What's the point of the test?!