The Daily Click

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Author:	Hill Gigas
Added:	14/11/2007
Overall:
Average:	8/10

So here we have a very creative game with a very bad name. Tsk tsk tsk. The name of this game sounds like a 12hr Halloween Compo project where you see how fast you can smash pumkins by pressing the space bar. That's a shame, becuase there is a gem of a game underneath.

This is actually a point and click adventure about a man who has had too much medication it seems, and wakes up in a hospital full of phantoms. He doesn't know what's happened, and it's his job to investigate his situation.

Presentation was great. The simply but compelling plot scenes at the beginning really made me curious and made me want to explore.

The title screen is also genious, because it makes you actually SEARCH for a way to start the friggin game! Great work on the intro.

So here is the setup- You left-click your mouse on the floor where you'd like your guy to walk. Then you right-click on things to interact with them. The game is playable like this, and I played for quite a while, but the engine will also leave you frustrated from time to time. Pathfinding doesn't exist here, your guy MUST have a clear path to walk when you click, or he won't go. He also won't walk to something that you click on such as a door or table, you have to click on the floor in front of that object to get him to go there. These things distracted from the otherwise brilliant atmosphere of the game. Also, it's easy to get stuck against a background wall if you get too close to it, especially around doors in the background. My journey ended a few times this way.

Graphics are somewhat crude, but also stylized and very atmospheric. You wouldn't think that an MS Paint ghost could give you the creeps, but it can! Phantoms are eeie, and the rooms all have a distinct mood to them. It really feels like something terrible has happened in almost every room that you enter. There are also great effects to add even another layer of atmosphere into this troubled world, such as the flickering lights above your head. Great work here.

Sounds are excellent. Turn up your speakers, and you will truly feel spooked the whole time you're playing. The mood is chilling, and it gives the game a lot of personality and credibility.

There is a lot of potential for lastability here. In fact, the only reason I had to stop playing was because I got stuck against a wall. One thing an author must always do is to not just play the game as the author would play it, but play it as someone who doesn't know how it all works yet. Walk up against things and try to do things that a normal person may try, because this is where the glitches lie. With a few tweaks to the gameplay engine, this game could easily be a 10 for lastability.

You don't see games like this very often in the klik community. Probably because they are very difficult to make. This is a great example of what can be done in this genre using MMF, it has real depth, a great atmosphere, and great potential. If this one was rushed out the door for a comp, then I would highly recommend that this engine be tweaked and used in an even bigger game. The author clearly has a talent for creating real worlds and real atmospheres, I'd like to see some of that is a more polished form. Highly recommended for fans of this genre and users of MMF2.