Following Freeware: June 2011 releases

A Simple Fix

When a young boy’s father decides a doll is an unsuitable toy for his son Joey, an argument ensues. Snatching the doll from the child’s hands, damaging it in the process, he flings it out the window. Years later a crow comes across this tragic figure, now missing an arm and a leg and with further injuries inflicted on it by a passing stray dog. Moved by the small doll’s sad tale, the crow pledges to restore her to her former glory and reunite her with her erstwhile companion.

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This forlorn tale from vertigoaddict was created for the June MAGS competition, with its theme “Forgotten”. The graphics are a simple realistic style, though with bright colours used for the most part. The player character of the crow flaps its wings throughout to stay aloft, and the cursor is animated to indicate when it is over a hotspot. There is no music, with neighbourhood noises such as bird song and kids playing forming the aural background instead. Control is optimised for a three-button mouse, with left for interact, right for look and the centre button to move. For those without a three-button mouse, the arrow keys provide an undocumented alternative for movement. Most of the time this is unnecessary, as interacting with hotspots causes the crow to fly directly over to the object clicked on.

Despite taking place entirely in Joey’s room and two outdoor locations, a reasonable number of puzzles have been fitted in. The initial search is only for the doll’s missing limbs, but once these have been found, additional repairs are necessary. Players are unable to pick up objects unless they have a use for them, but with the limited carrying capacity of a crow this is somewhat justified in context. Examining most objects results in much more than a stock response, often indicating possible later uses or giving insight into Joey’s current life. Items occasionally need to be combined or manipulated, with some environmental interaction also necessary to succeed. It is quite likely you will be able to guess how the story ends before you reach it, but the closing cutscene still manages to achieve emotional impact anyway.

A Simple Fix can be downloaded from the AGS website.

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