Review of "The Great Xavio" Review of "The Great Xavio"The Great Xavio is a Z-code 5 interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 2004 by Reese Warner. At the 2004 XYZZY Awards, it was a finalist in the Best Individual NPC category.
Review by David Welbourn
It was easy to tell from the first location that this game was going to be a bit buggy and awkward. So I didn't expect too much from it. Every now and then, though, the game would surprise me with nice little bits like when I found a candle and asked the conceirge for matches, I didn't expect the game to cooperate. But it did! That was great. And I started to think better of it.
Unhappily, much further in the game, after I got into the Great Xavio's rooms, I found myself both unable to proceed or to retreat. Or, at least, if I retreated, I could never return, since an important item disappeared on the way in. And checking the walkthrough, I was supposed to ask the conceirge for something else, totally unmotivated? That's insane. Since I didn't want to restart the game, I quit.
Suggestion to the author: Put a large toothpick in the reuben sandwich and let me use that instead.
Rating: 4.