|
A novel and intriguing attempt to model real-life dating that doesn't quite
pull it off, it seems like a perfect program for anyone who has been rejected by his
or her date one too many times: as member of the exclusive Romantic Encounters club,
here is your chance to court members of the opposite sex in hopes of satisfying your
desires... temporarily. The game lets you play as either male or female, or read the
thorough introduction to the game in "guest" mode. Each game session starts you in
the reception area, where you are told of how many encounters are waiting for you,
and in what room. Gameplay is familiar interactive fiction fare: the game's parser
is adequate, and can understand complex sentences such as "MAKE A PASS AT THIS GIRL"
or "WOULD YOU LIKE TO DANCE?" There is no puzzle to speak of, however, as all your
time is spent in various rooms, trying to strike up conversation with different
guests and trying to impress them enough to "score" (pun intended). Each encounter
either ends with your desires being quenched, or rejection from your date, after
which you end up again at the reception area and are given an opportunity to choose
another encounter. Pressing "G" at the start also brings up a shortcut menu that
lists all the encounters in the game, and all its variations and stages. This allows
you to replay scenes that you failed earlier, or try a different move on the person.
It is difficult to say whether Romantic Encounters is a "good" game. On the one hand,
its concept is very unique, and the writing is usually above-par or even excellent in
some areas. The game is also definitely very different from "X"-rated or even mild
porn titles: even the most revealing descriptions are "R" rated at best, and the game
never descends into tasteless descriptions of carnal acts. On the other hand, the
seemingly intelligent parser is quirky, and is very picky on your syntax being the
exact phrasing it is looking for. This means that, although each person you can date
has different personalities, it is difficult to figure out what to type to yield the
expected results, let alone what your date wants from you. This obscurity makes the
game very frustrating at times, although the brevity (each date session lasts only
about 15-20 minutes of play time) fortunately helps. Overall, it's a commendable
attempt at a serious dating simulation. Still, as the only game of its kind (Tsunami's
Man Enough years later is a lot more shallow), it is worth playing a few times for
uniqueness' sake. Just don't expect it to help you become Don Juan overnight. If you
are looking for a solid and much more logical life simulation, play Alter Ego or even
Executive Suite instead. |