Dreaming on E is a Cactus-inspired FPS platformer that's interesting, mostly in part to its ending. It's vague, frustrating, and has 3D graphics circa 1992. All five levels are ideas NAL had for FPSes that didn't have enough meat to make for full games, but stitched together produce a somewhat surreal experience -- which is no doubt why the title.
The first level is an exploratory bit; from the stat, you are told that you will die, and sure enough, when you get to the end, you do. The next four levels are frustrating platformer segments with inventive and minimalist graphics. The fifth and final level has a neat visual trick, but the game as a whole is tedious and honestly not worth your time, except as an illustration of mildly humorous experimental thinking about games. Once you complete the game, the end credits consist of "The moral of this game is don't do E, kids. It's bad stuff." With the revelation that the game was purposefully tedious, it creates that slightly jaded feeling you get for beating Sad Moon Mission. For those Gamer Maker afficianados out there, McClusky provides some templates for his FPS stuff, which is a nice addition.
Since I spoiled the game's secret, you can play through the tedium with the ending in mind. It's worth it though, if only to let the blocky and quirky graphics soak in and get to the end. As always, check it out.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Eskimo Gamer,
Dustin
Hmm...
I'm afraid I agree. That really wasn't much worth my time. A first-person platformer with no gameplay and a couple of half-assed jokes is a bit weak. Level 5 was mostly cool-looking, though.
"Cactus-inspired"
I pretty much new what was awaiting me the moment I read that it is "Cactus-inspired" kind of gameplay. I loved, LOVED his IGS lecture ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgwlJu8Ql2o&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tigsour... ), but somehow his games are... lame. Sorry, but they are. Cute in concept, I'm glad they exist, I'm glad Cactus exists and does his inspirational/father-of-all-indie thing, but the games themselves... Bleh.
Just couldn't get into this one as well. Plus the sign-textures textures were stretched too big, so I couldn't read half of them.
Same here
Level V was the most interesting, because of howthe platforms move with you. My first thought when I entered this level was "wow, I playing a first-person Q*bert !".
On the overall, yes, every level has it's interesting sides (almost all of them), but really, showing us some unfinished and even unstarted stuff is not the most exciting experience in the world.
In Defense of the Cactus
If you really loved his lecture, you would have remembered his slide on games not necessarily having to be fun. =p His shooters are pretty cool usually, for what it's worth.