Kanomi Plays: An Adventure Game Called The Kaaos Effect

Kanomi Pikajuna Reviews Second Life's Most Promising Games

Title: The Kaaos Effect / Released: March 20, 2009 / Genre: Adventure / Age Category: PG /Summary: Travel through time and space solving puzzles in an attempt to find your way back home. / Price: Free / Estimated Play Time: 2 to 3 hours / Where to Play: Orange Island / Developer: MadPea Productions / Web Resources: Madpea.com 

What do an Enigma Machine, a KISS poster, and a holographic bidet have in common? No, they're not items in my Lost & Found folder - they're all items you'll find in a free new game called The Kaaos Effect. 

Here's the set-up: You, being a weary and overworked sort, decide to take a vacation. Fortunately you live in the distant future, which means you can take a time travel vacation! Hooray! Unfortunately something goes horribly awry, as tends to happen when you travel time, and you become stuck and desperate to get home (and apply for a full refund, I presume). It's up to you to communicate your coordinates to the travel agency's semi-competent Help Desk, using whatever archaic technology you find in that era.  Here's how:

You're equipped with a HUD, which you should probably wear, and throughout your journeys you will be given other objects and textures that serve as props and clues to help you solve the puzzles. The game environment itself is cleverly designed so that each player's experience takes place on a self-contained sub parcel, so you never have some pants-less bozo interrupting your adventure. As you solve each puzzle and move to a different location in time and space, your HUD will fill up your screen with a striking transitional effect that masks the laggy effect of rezzing, a wonderful touch. The game will even save your progress for you, so you can come back and pick up right where you left off. For a game written entirely within Second Life, with all the limitations that entails, the coding here is really top notch.

The game also looks and sounds superb, and while the architecture will not blow your mind -- necessarily being small and self-contained -- the detail on the small objects is fine and the voiceovers and sound cues bring the experience to life. Some of the interface I found a little baffling - for example the HUD has a bar of red/green items which at first I thought indicated locations visited, but then later realized referred bonus secrets uncovered. But most of the game is fairly intuitive for a veteran Second Lifer or game player. So what about the puzzles, which are the heart of the experience? Most of them were on the mark - entertaining to solve, each one different enough to avoid redundancy, but none so difficult as to completely stymie any progress. A few puzzles were timed, creating a sense of urgency, but the remainder have no time limits at all. They were definitely satisfying to solve.

Probably the most frustrating puzzle is the very first one, where you're searching parts of a TV antenna in a set from That 70s Show. This one actually took me the longest and devolved into a frustrating pixel hunt, although when I finally did see the parts it was one of those "Oh duh!" moments. So don't give up on the first room. Linearity is a major drawback to most adventure games - if you are unable to solve one puzzle, it generally becomes impossible to keep going. And The Kaaos Effect square falls into the category of the linear adventure game. Fortunately to head off the inevitable problem of player frustration, the designer included multiple layers of hints, from Website tips, hints from your HUD, and even a chat system that lets you ask other players or staff for help.

One final aspect of the game worth mentioning is that while the game has a corporate sponsor, it is not in your face about it. When I first started playing, I thought vaguely, "Why did they named their island Orange Island? Don't they know there's a European phone company with that name?" - but that was about the extent of my awareness of the sponsorship until I started doing research for this article. Knowing that now, having puzzles themed around the evolution of technological communication devices and using time travel as the means to expose players to it makes sense and is a clever design. So thank you for not forcing me to wear Nike shoes or memorize the history of Coca-Cola in order to solve a puzzle; as an exercise in low-key, non-intrusive branding that blends nicely into existing SL activities and experiences, it is a success. And as a game, The Kaaos Effect is by and large polished, professional and entertaining. If you enjoy puzzles and adventure games and have a couple hours to fill, you're all set. I rate it four out of five stars - highly recommended, just a little linear and without a lot of replayability, but with a whole lot of charm and some awfully great work.

Helpful Hints: Turn off your AO while playing; if the hints don't help, use the chat system to ask for help 

Rating: **** (out of five) 

Kanomi Pikajuna is the best behaved girl in the whole world! She writes a blog called Tiny Dancing which every Linden loves but no Linden can link. If you have an idea for a future game for her to review please email at [email protected]

Comments

[Dreck Drechsler]

I saw this on the Second Life Showcase last week and checked it out. FANTASTIC! I played through the end and found it to be one of the most fun experiences that I'd had within SL for quite awhile. Highly recommended.

[Nolar]

great review game look fun

[Valentina Kendal]

the caption of your last photo had me falling off my chair! That's my new motto for life!

[Fab Outlander]

Hello,

On behalf of the Orange Island staff, thank you for this wonderful review.

We are very proud to support MadPea in their Second Life initiatives.

We would also like to point out that the game is in fact "non-linear" meaning each and every player will have a random order of stages and that some puzzles are also randomised.

Kaaos effects includes a lot of non visible features such as an updater enabling the inclusion of new stages on the fly, a solid tracking of gamer's experience, a dedicated channel for players to communicate among others...

Empowerment of Madpea crew and joint effort with Orange Team aim to deliver in each new game release a better experience for residents.

Thanks again,