ONE HOUR GAMES

The Evil Chicken Of Doom
 by Mel S

My fave out of all of the one hour games, The Evil Chicken Of Doom was genuinely comical in places and (in my humble opinion anyway) quite a bit better than some of Mel S' full length games.

At heart it's pretty much a nonsense game about (yep, you guessed it), an evil chicken that has two noses. On account of this, you and your friend Steve decide that the best thing to do is kill it. Cruel? Perhaps. But then it does have two noses and is giving you evil looks.

Buried amidst the silliness there is actually quite a good game here. Short, of course, being written in an hour but proof that you don't have to spend ages on a game to write something worthwhile. Re-written as a full size game, this would be quite something.

Game: 7 out of 10


The Game To End All Games
 by Woodfish

Now this is a strange game. It starts off almost like Death Agency (a review of which, rest assured, will not be appearing on this website) with atrocious spelling, dire gameplay and a storyline quite a bit worse than a three year old with an underactive imagination could come up with. But persevere with it and you're plunged full on into a very strange (and different) game indeed.

I can't say I really enjoyed playing The Game To End All Games but I liked the way the player never really knew what was going on and the writer had some decent ideas here. I imagine that if this wasn't a one hour game, most players would have taken one look at the first few lines of text and given up in disgust but as a one hour game it passed the time nicely enough.

Game: 5 out of 10


The Masochist's Heaven
 by The Mad Monk

Play this game and it's all too obvious why the writer chose for himself a username containing the word "mad".

The Masochist's Heaven follows the viewpoint of (not surprisingly) a masochist. Only an unhappy one in that he has woken up in Heaven and not Hell, which is where he was really hoping to end up. Not happy with the current situation, he sets about to spoil things and wind up elsewhere.

For a one hour game this was quite reasonable although the lack of time given to playtesting really showed with some of the exits being messed up. Minor problems aside, this was amusing enough and proof that the writer, mad though he is, can write very well when the need arises.

Game: 5 out of 10


A Monkey Too Many
 by Echarin

This is a bizarre game in which nothing is explained and very little makes sense. You start in a dark place and then without warning are transported to a cell. Your guard (if that is the right word) is none other than a monkey. Escaping from the cell becomes your next objective.

Written within the constraints of an hour, A Monkey Too Many is a remarkably small game (two locations, one of which is empty) but strangely likeable. There are some well written descriptions and the overall style of writing suggests that, given time, the writer could produce something well worth playing.

Game: 6 out of 10