Death. Forget about it. Review

Death. Forget about it.

AAAAAAAHHHH! I’ve been stabbed. Wait, what’s this? I’m being operated on. Why am I in the water again? Oh, look at the pretty fishes. Oh no, it’s a shark trying to kill me too. Welcome to A Fork in the Tale, the game that, reminiscent of Dragon’s Lair, continuously kills you, over and over and over . . . I’ve never died so many times in my life!

A Fork in the Tale is a first person action adventure in full motion video. The video is smooth and the action is fast paced. There’s never a dull moment in this adventure. Though you do see the dying sequence an awful lot, death isn’t permanent In fact, you come to accept dying as similar to the concept of breaking eggs to make an omelet. It just happens, you get over it, you move on. Unfortunately, in order to move on, you have to pass the area where you died, leading to some very redundant gameplay.

It’s set in the quaint little world of Eseveron where all the happy inhabitants all want to kill you. That’s right, everyone whose anyone wants you dead, even scantly clad jungle women. You meet a girl, who tries to help you by making you chase her around a forest, all the while trying to escape from, you guessed it, people who want to kill you. Am I making my point? If not, allow me to be blunt. The plot is as thin as say your average bouillon broth. You spend the whole game running away from things. This really wouldn’t have been bad if it weren’t for the fact that you do it over and over in the same places. I mean come on, couldn’t they have at least come up with some neat little twists or something.

Fortunately, the plot is just about the only weak link in this game’s chain. In fact, the feeble plot hardly hinders the game at all. Because the game is highly immersive, you barely notice that there is no plot. (Kinda like the movie Independance Day) I almost couldn’t stop playing until I had beaten it. To put it simply, it’s just plain fun.

A Fork in the Tale is one of the best fast paced full motion video game out on the market to date, second only to Hardline. The amazing thing is that the game’s video actually runs well. The game never seemed choppy as I would have expected, in fact the frame rate never seemed low at all (about 15 frames per second on a 2x CD-ROM according to Any River Entertainment). Of course, this came at a small price in graphics quality (the resolution was not very high).

As you run away from your pursuers, you constantly have to make decisions on the fly. Most of which have to do with what you say or do. Most of the games puzzles are in the form of completing a number of tasks that allow you to move on. These tasks are often completed by clicking on the right icons before they disappear. This takes a little time to get used to, but after a while you get the hang of it, and it becomes only a matter of quick thinking to determine the right icon to click before it disappears of screen.

Also, this game features the voice of the Saturday Night Live star, Rob Schneider. His comic interludes are what give this game its flesh. Some of the scenes were so hilarious I actually played them over just to hear him again. In fact they even made up for having to go to the same places over and over because he always had new funny thing to say.

In conclusion, this game is good one. The saddest thing about the game was that it wasn’t longer. The game took me under 10 hours to finish on medium difficulty and I really wanted more. (There are 5 CD’s! I expected it to last a little longer.) The average two year-old could beat the game on easy, and the average eight year old would have little trouble dealing with the game on medium. So, unless you’re a little slow with the mouse, play on hard because otherwise you really won’t get much play time out of the game. I should mention of course that this game is rated at 13+ so you two year olds please stay away unless your parents give you permission (thank you!). This game is not a must buy, but between the fast paced action sequences and the witty remarks made by Rob Schneider, A Fork in the Tale offers an appealing package. Though this game gives the word redundant a bad name. Though this game gives the word redundant a bad name. Though this game gives the word redundant a bad name, I just fell in love with it. It’s not very long, it’s not very hard, but it is very fun.