Eight years ago today I finished my countdown for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I promised many times I would eventually get to this one, and it’s finally happening.
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A Normal Lost Phone
Author: Accidental Queens
Year: 2017
Genre: Slice of Life
Platform: iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, Switch
My Rating: 4
While the premise of looking through someone else’s phone is intriguing and the backstory you discover is important, I was nevertheless not terribly impressed with A Normal Lost Phone despite all of the awards it was nominated for.
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Winter’s Bone
Year: 2010
Director: Debra Granik
Rating: 7
An incredibly well-acted and shot movie that everyone agrees is good and probably doesn’t want to see a second time.
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Year: 2018
Director: Peter Ramsey, Bob Perischetti, Rodney Rothman
Rating: 8
I have never been an overt fan of either comics or superheroes, especially the latter. I just don’t find superpowers (especially when the same person has more than one) inherently interesting. It often feels like the protagonist has a cheat code and they’re fighting other people with cheat codes. Of course, like any genre, good writing can overcome that. Into the Spider-Verse is impressive on all fronts and probably my favorite superhero movie.
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Parasite
Year: 2019
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Rating: 10
An observation my wife made that struck a chord was that one of the joys of watching a foreign film is that typically you aren’t familiar with the actors and have no preconceived notions or biases about them. Of course a brilliant actor can overcome this anyway, but there’s something to said for going into a movie completely blind. Watching Parasite is like opening a Russian doll, except each doll is better than the last and — oh surprise — they’re not dolls. The movie may be best watched spoiler-free, so a heads up before you read further.
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All Roads
Author: Jon Ingold
Year: 2001
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Merciful
Length of Play: 1-2 Hours
My Rating: 6
Awards: Best Game, Best Story, Best Setting — 2001 XYZZY Awards
1st Place — 7th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition
I normally am a sucker for anything involving time travel and paradoxes and I tend to prefer linear gameplay. Jon Ingold is also one of my favorite authors. So All Roads should be right up my alley. I judged the 2001 IF competition and remember giving this one a score of “6” and then being surprised it took first place and won a whole slew of XYZZY awards. I decided to play it again recently to see if time would change my mind, but I left once again feeling underwhelmed.
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Fail-Safe
Author: Jon Ingold
Year: 2000
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Cruel (but the game is so short it doesn’t matter)
Length of Play: 1-2 Hours
My Rating: 8
I’ve always enjoyed games that take place in space, especially on failing space vessels (e.g. Mission Critical, Seedship). I fell immediately for Fail-Safe’s hook, which entails playing the role of mission control talking to the lone survivor on a failing space vessel.
No Time To Squeal
Author: Mike Sousa & Robb Sherwin
Year: 2001
Development System: TADS
Cruelty Rating: Polite
Length of Play: 2 Hours
My Rating: 4
Mike Sousa and Robb Sherwin as a pairing makes sense, as the former’s strength is coding and the latter’s strength is writing. So I was pretty stoked when I first played this. But instead of combining their strengths, it appears this was developed like a McCartney/Lennon song where they just jam two separate numbers together and hope it works.
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Taco Fiction
Author: Ryan Veeder
Year: 2011
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Polite
Length of Play: 2 Hours
My Rating: 7
Taco Fiction has one of the more intriguing openers I’ve ever played. You are a petty thief in need of some cash, and the opening prompt gives you specific directions on how you’re going to rob the taco joint next door. If the protagonist were the violent sort this could be off-putting, but the game lets you know he has no interest in hurting anyone.
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MST3K Presents “Detective”
Author: C.E. Forman, Graeme Cree, and Stuart Moore
Year: 1995
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Merciful
Length of Play: 30 Minutes
My Rating: 7
One of the few games that has made me legit laugh out loud, Detective was the perfect game to get the MSTK3 treatment. It was a seriously earnest mystery written by a 12-year old Matt Barringer and he made nearly every possible mistake one could make–instant death rooms, unimplemented objects, doors that only go one-way, etc.–but since there are really no puzzles, the game can be won in a short time.
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Death By Troggles 
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