An author to remember

Title: A night to remember
Author: Float On (Ethan Damschroder)
Release date: 23 July 2009
Playtime: 1250
Size: 3.6Mb

A lot of games have been released lately that deal with the spiritual world. There's Wheel of Torture in the MAGS section, Ben Chandler's Heed, Dave Gilbert's Blackwell addition and now there's also A night to remember from first-timer Ethan Damschroder. Although not completely done alone, it's mainly a one man project.

It's a story about a con artist who tries to uncover the suspected malpractice of an entrepreneur. But as soon as he tries to get closer to the main suspect, things don't work out as planned and will it become a night to remember.

A great story with a good plot. There's a lot of reading to do from dialogs and documents and you're introduced to all characters in a fast pace at the start so you have to pay attention to remember who's who later on. The graphics are nice, clean but at some points I find them too clean. There could have been more detail and more objects in certain rooms (especially the hall) to make the images richer and enhance the game play.

The game isn't difficult. It's more walking from A to B and finding the right room to let the story continue. There are two real puzzles in it and you can't progress before the needed actions have taken place so with these puzzles you're also pushed in the right direction. A negative side effect is that objects that weren't available at first, will be later on in the game and interaction with people will change as game progresses. Looking at first will become taking later on. Somewhat distracting and confusing. The rest of the game is more pixel hunting.

The interface of the game is simple. The menu and inventory can be accessed via the TAB key but make sure you use the right cursor before you open the inventory otherwise you can't select any objects to work with.

The music in the game is nice and not too dominant. At moments it's a good addition to the drama at others it can become a bit annoying because of repetition. With the lighting effects (very well done) the game as a whole is a nice spiritual drama to work through.

So overall it was an enjoyable journey but for me it won't be one to remember. You should do with the author though, because I'm sure the next one will be.