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| 23 SEP 2004 at 6:50am |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | I've been playing BeTrapped for just under an hour. I chose to play the recommended Adventure mode of play, which adds some adventure/mystery elements to the game, obviously.
It's setup this way:
You (Inspector Parker) enter a room and there's a notebook on the screen that tells you how many traps there are in the room and how many you've cleared, how many lives you have, and how many misses you get. You have to clear all the traps in the room before doing anything else.
Here is where it turns into a Minesweeper clone.
As you walk about the room, it is divided into squares, and the squares in your near vicinity will turn color, indicating whether or not there is a trap(s) nearby. If you think you know where a trap is, you right-click on that square. If you're right - another trap cleared. If you're wrong. You "Missed" chances decreases by one.
I didn't try Puzzle mode, but I'm guessing that's what it's like.
Here's where Adventure mode comes into play.
After clearing out all the traps, you can then move to the next room or interact with a few items in that room. Holding down the spacebar highlights what you can interact with. It could a dossier of all the characters that gets added to your inventory, a character to talk to, or a conversation to listen in on. You can also return to the room later to speak with suspects if you want.
On Adventure mode, the first 10 levels double as a tutorial for the game. For the most part, it's linear, as the rooms you have to go to are pretty much set in stone, with a couple exceptions. When you clear one part of the house you have access to another part of the house.
The characters and the fact that I'm wandering about a large house trying to solve a murder mystery reminds me of The Colonel's Bequest.
I highly recommend you d/l the game and try it out for yourself. Only YOU can decide whether or not YOU want to play it. And since it's on Yahoo, I'm guessing it will show up on MSN, Real, and JA+ very soon.
Note that after you install it, you need to be connected to the internet to play it. (Maybe that's just the Yahoo version.) Your game is saved as you go along, though. And each level starts out fresh with its own amount of lives and missed chances. If you die, you get to replay the level/room.
My verdict? Speaking for Adventure mode, I enjoyed my time playing. After clearing a level it was always, "Just this one and then I'll do some work." Another level, "No really, this is the last one." Till I had played through the first 10 levels. Looks like I'll be up late tonight. [smiley=yawn.gif] What stopped me was that I want to continue my trial time tomorrow, otherwise I probably would have kept on playing.
$20 seems to be the going rate for downloadable casual games such as these. Only YOU can decide if you want to spend that money to keep playing and solve the mystery. I'm thinking I might do just that. [smiley=thumbs.gif]
Since I don't consider myself the reviewer type, I will refrain from giving this game a number or letter grade. Who am I to judge?
Anybody else played it yet?
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 12:13pm |
KsandraSchattenjger
Posts : 2459
Joined: 2 APR 2003
Status : Online | So Adventure mode is basically the same as Puzzle mode, but with a few characters and items to interact with? Not sure I can be bothered with it after all. If I want a Minesweeper-like game I'll play Minesweeper.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 1:00pm |
| Deleted User | There are also a few basic puzzles (and I mean basic) in the Adventure mode. Find the key to the locked door. Your way is blocked by a cat, and there is some nearby catnip. Your way is blocked by a beehive, but you find some insect repellant in a nearby room. :
Essentially, you are paying $20 for a game that is already included free on every Windows computer in the world for the writing. So the question is: Is the writing worth $20?
In my case, the answer was "no." Whenever you encounter a person in a room (after finding all the mines--err...--traps in the room) you can question him/her. There are also long storytelling sequences of written material at the end of each "level" of the game. These are basically tongue-in-cheek Agatha Christie homages. (In fact, the entire story owes more than a little to Christie's Ten Little Indians.) Each character is a mystery archetype: The brash rogue adventurer, the poor little rich girl heiress, the dowager whose only concern is her title, the "veddy good" British army officer, etc. And, of course, Inspector Parker himself, in a return engagement. There is an underlying fondness and humor to the writing that provides a bit of fun, but it is pretty familiar stuff. Whether it is worth $20 is highly questionable. If you really, REALLY love all things Christiesque.... [smiley=shrug.gif]
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 1:39pm |
| Deleted User | Meh, it's an OK game. Not particularly enthralling, just an entertaining diversion.
Speaking personally, I think it's a little sad that someone so previously revered for their past output is now making such low-budget, roughly presented titles when they should, by rights, be creating games with a higher budget which would offer a more satisfying gameplay experience with proven storytelling power. Same goes for most of Sierra's old crew.
...is wot I sed earlier. It's not an adventure game in any stretch of the word, is a minesweeper clone and pretty poor. No doubt Jane Jensen-ites will get a kick out of it, but its a poor substitute for a really satisfying adventure title.
You can get Darkfall 2 for the same price, can't you? Or even GK3 for less if you haven't played it? Some might argue that they want to support Jane Jensen through it, but I can't see anything coming out of that seeing as, essentially, it's a poor game.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 2:02pm |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5536
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | I played through the first few levels, and had enough. I never liked Minesweeper much, and even the Adventure Mode is mostly that. Very disappointing, especially considering it's a Jane Jensen product.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 2:05pm |
| Deleted User | It's the adventure Daikatana.
Well, not at all really.
I'll shut up.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 2:13pm |
Agustín CordesGuild Master
Posts : 5696
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: AR, Buenos Aires
Status : Offline | Twenty bucks for a glorified minesweeper clone is a little bit expensive, I say [smiley=raise_eyebrow.gif]
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 3:33pm |
oprionIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 52
Joined: 6 MAR 2004
Status : Online | Sigh.. Is this what we get in exchange for Grey Matter ?
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 3:49pm |
AyaGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7277
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | support jane jensen? why? support someone who makes good adventures, yes... support j.boakes for example... but support just a name? no... i refuse to buy whatever is thrown my way just cause a certain name is behind it... support jane jensen? give me gabriel knight 4 (being a proper adv, not a fashionable hybrid) and i'll be happy to do it... give me fancy clones of clue and minesweeper (and ask $20 on top of that) and no way jose... :
You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 4:08pm |
| Deleted User | Hear, hear, I'm in complete agreeance with you. If history teaches us anything within the realm of entertainment, then it should be a given that even well known names can create clinkers. Be it Brian De Palma with Mission To Mars, Lou Reed with Metal Machine Music or Jane Jensens Betrapped. :-/
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 4:20pm |
Lucien21Guild Master
Posts : 4876
Joined: 9 JUL 2003
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Played it for half an hour this morning.
Not my cup of tea.
Would rather spend it on Darkfall
Dear Diary, My teenage angst bullsh*t now has a bodycount.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 6:19pm |
NellieSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 359
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | I adore minesweeper.
I despise simple 'puzzles'.
I have minesweeper free on my comp already.
Guess I won't be getting this one.
[b]£1bn -[/b] Amount British government has pledged to paying off debt of poorest nations over next 10 years.&&&&[b]£5bn -[/b] Amount British government has already spent on Iraq campaign.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 6:28pm |
| Deleted User | The thing is, I don't think that the people here at JA+ are the target audience. I am assuming that the game is geared toward causal gamers who don't (yet) play adventure games. BeTrapped offers a casual game that "gentles" the player into the idea of adventure games by acquainting them with dialogue trees and rudimentary inventory puzzles. In other words, the idea is to help interest non-AG players in adventure games.
If I am correct in this assumption, I wish Jensen and Oberon all the success in the world with BeTrapped, even if I won't be buying it or recommending it to adventure gamers.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 6:44pm |
KsandraSchattenjger
Posts : 2459
Joined: 2 APR 2003
Status : Online | Hmph. No wonder it was released with so little fanfare. I agree that we're probably not the target audience, but after all the fuss that was made about it this is a bit of a let-down.
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| 23 SEP 2004 at 10:53pm |
Erwin_BrPrivate Detective
Posts : 455
Joined: 7 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Can't say I'm surprised or anything, but I'm still disappointed to say the least. It's minesweeper with a nice story, a few characters and 'puzzles'. :-/
--Erwin
[url=http://justadventure.com/IndependentDevs/BadTiming/index.html][img]http://erbserv.emptyhouse.net/public/images/bt-forumbanner.gif[/img][/url]
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| 24 SEP 2004 at 12:06am |
KateriIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 39
Joined: 6 MAY 2004
Status : Online | Let's look on the bright side - it's finished, therefore JJ is now free to work on more interesting projects...
....hopefully??
kateri.
I cannot give the reasons,&&I only sing the tunes:&&The sadness of the seasons&&The madness of the moons.&& ~M. Peake.
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| 24 SEP 2004 at 11:48am |
KsandraSchattenjger
Posts : 2459
Joined: 2 APR 2003
Status : Online | JJ has stated previously that these other projects (such as Grey Matter, the game she was working on previously) may depend on the success of BeTrapped. I suppose we'll have to hope it sells well among casual gamers, because I doubt many adventure gamers would buy it even to support Jane Jensen.
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| 24 SEP 2004 at 7:35pm |
ElfstoneGuild Master
Posts : 5892
Joined: 4 NOV 2002
Status : Online | One doesn't know whether he/she should buy the game, because it means there is more money for real adventures or better not, because there is more money - and marketing feedback - for like the people call it "glorified minesweeper-clones".
Be Trapped doesn't look like what I had in mind about a game involving puzzles and involving traps. The minesweeper-aspect IS in fact the most important part of this game.
It's fun for a while and I enjoyed the conversations so far, but hardly enough to keep a lot of adventure players excited...
[b]playing[/b]: Destination Treasure Island (done in two sittings, but it's nice), Syberia (ho-hum), Dracula: Last Sanctuary (on hold)&&[b]reading[/b]: even more study papers&&[b]listening to[/b]: [url=http://www.last.fm/user/Brax82/]this and that[/url], plus [url=http://www.musicovery.com/]Musicovery[/url]&&[b]TV favorites[/b]: (currently) Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Journeyman (cancelled! grrr...), Heroes&& all-time) 24, Stargate SG1, X-Files, Lost, House
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