Re: Bookrage's choiceofgames reviews
bookrage's review of "Welcome to Morautown
Hello all,
welcome to another one of my reviews and this time I'm reveiwing "Welcome to Morautown," which is a very unique title that has a lot ot offer.
genre: not sure how I would describe it, it is sort of a post-appocolyptic, gangland, noir, gangland, furre game. Those sound like they don't go together but the fact that they are so mixed and mixed, frankly, quite well, that it gives a unique experience even if you only like one of the above.
description: In this game, you play as a "morau" an animal created to be a weapon in a previous global war by one of the world governments. Whether you are a Russian Bear morau, a south American Rat morau, or one of the great cats of Africa, you have a wide variety of choices ot make from canine, rodent, ursine, and feline choices. You now live in a crappy ghetto neighborhood now that the war is over and your usefulness is over.
Writing: I'm not a fan of furres, but the fact that you have to negotiate gangland politics, possibly stop terrorist attacks, or even become a terrorist yourself and you are doing so also with aspects of civil rights movements going on here, the game has a lot ot offer. The game generally has a gritty, gangland or noir feel to it, which I think attests to how good it is that you can hold that up when you are essentially an anthropomorphic animal and yet the story can still be dealt with in a straight way and doesn't really get silly.
There are four major characters you interact with heavily, two humans and two moraus, one of each of the traditional genders. But all and all, the game keeps a good and serious tone and you will feel the grit even though you're an animal and I felt, even on subsequent playthroughs a lot of edginess when I was making my choices. You get worried and the setting does come alive well. MOrautown is creepy and looks like a pretty rotten place to live and this is reflected even in some of the NPCs.
The characters, atmosphere, and consistant tone really make this one shine. The gangsters are scary, the cult is terrifying, and some of the biggoted humans are real jerks.
mechanics: This one is somewhere in the middle of quality in terms of mechanics, with some being excellent and some being rather hard to parce out. A lot of things like strength, speed, and stealthiness are easy to figure out. Also, there is a degree of wildnesss and "city hall" which sort of describes where on the continuum you are between human and animal, how selfish you are, and whether you care about the community or just yourself, though the personality traits are harder to understand, but this is not unusual for Choice of Games titles and I've seen far worse. A lot of your physical stats work from a starting template depending on what animal you choose to be. For example, rats are very stealthy and very fast, while wolves are pretty tough but can't stealth to save their lives and bears are big and strong, but slow as heck. The relationships with the important NPCs are expressed in a few sentences which I think is a definite plus. the one downside is that i don't remember any indicators of how injured you are even though you can get injured pretty badly in the story (though I have never died) Maybe I missed it but that is one omition.
romance: There are four romantic interests in the story, centered around the two humans and two moraus you deal with most heavily. You pick your sexuality at the start of the game, but this does not change their genders. For those who might want to explore self-discovery in sexuality in the course of the story, you can do so as even if you say you are straight at the start of the story, this doesn't lock romantic options with same-sex npcs. This is the first and to this point, only time I have seen this in a Choice of Games title, and while I did not take advantage of it myself and don't have much interest in doing so, I am glad it is here in this way and I think I would be happy seeing it elsewhere as well. The humans are a little bland, though Chris Westbrook has her charm, but the Moraus have more going on. I would say though that the romance, despite definite implied sex, would not weird someone out if they aren't into furres, (I'm not into furres and it wasn't weird. to me)
railroading; The game has a definite set of challenges and events, and the 12 chapters are pretty set, but there are a few branches where the events and content of a couple chapters can change pretty drastically depending on your choices. So far, I have only gotten mixed endings that still ahve a pretty noir feel to them, but there are definitely a lot of varied endings you can get, depending on specific choices you make and your ending relationships with various groups and NPCs. One part of the game changes very greatly depending on whether you use a drug and another changes heavily depending on how you talk to the police after a possible bad event if you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Choices definitely matter here.
achievements: Oh My God yes! At the very least, to get all the achievements you would have to play the game either 11 or 13 times (can't remember exact number) as there is a seperate achievement for every playable species. There are also achievements for every likely, and not so likely outcome of the story. Taking the drug at one point gets you one, I think you get one for defeating Lucy in a Gang Brawl, and there are a bunch more. If you want replay value, this set o fachievements is so huge, you are definitely going to have to explore the game heavily to get them all.
closing remarks. I don't like Furres but this is a pretty good title as it draws anthropomorphic animals strangely into a gritty crime and gangland setting that can somehow be straight and serious even so. Choices defiinitely matter in this setting and the selection of achievements is among the best in Choiceofgames. The mechanics are only average. Romance has an interesting exploring sexuality sort of option that most other games do not have, and the NPCs are relatively good compared ot other titles I have played. This isn't the best title I have played but it is a pretty good one, and even if animal people aren't your thing, they aren't mine, it's worth a definite look, though sadly, the first 5 chapters which are free do not give a fair representation of how great the game gets later.
-- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
