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The Cave (PS3)

Status: Finished playing
I started playing this game on Monday 15 July, 2013  //  I stopped playing this game on: Tuesday 20 May, 2014
Current opinion of this game
Lots of fun and funny. A bit tiresome if you want to see all the character's sections.

May 20, 2014 06:41:48 PM
It's really a shame that the structure of the game requires playing so many parts over and over. I still finished with all the characters, but by the end I was more tired and bored than entertained, which kind of sucks. I almost wish they let you play each characters section by itself once you've done the main storyline.

July 15, 2013 06:20:17 PM
Thank you Playstation Plus for offering a game I was interested in playing, but hadn't gotten around to buying. I may never have gotten around to it, so my decision to subscribe to your service feels like a smart decision to have made (and I'm sure you've appreciated my subscription fee as well).

So, onto the game...

It's fun, not too hard, and reasonably un-clunky in it's gameplay as to be enjoyable. Perhaps what I've enjoyed the least is the beginning, where I was completely unaware of what I had to do and ended up missing a few things (the "story" snippets you're supposed to activate) I had to return to on another play through. Actually, now that I think about it, it's the multiple playthroughs I've enjoyed the least. Having to replay sections of the game - and re-solve the puzzles, isn't all that interesting. Maybe the 2nd time was ok (because I could test to see if I remembered what to do), but after that it's just a chore. And it seems like a waste as well! The game could easily tell if you've played a section before and simply asked you "would you like to skip the miner section?" You would answer yes/no, and be done with it.

Now, there is good reason to play again since each character has his/her own (yay for gender balance, half the characters are women!) special area, and the game is clever in tying them seamlessly together so each time you play through you get a coherent experience. I was worried that the experience of each play through would involve more backtracking (e.g. remembering to go to a certain place to do something with a certain character). I was also unsure of how the game was structured. It's quite simple in the end. I'll try to map it out:

1. Intro section - getting to the Shop
2. Getting knick-knacks for the Shop
3. Entering the cave
4. Character A's Story
5. Character B's Story
6. The Miner
7. The Zoo
8. Character C's Story
9. The Island
10. Getting new knick-knacks for the shop and leaving the cave

I think you might sometimes get Character B and C together, but in general that's how it's set up. The "problem" is that on a repeat play through, only steps 4, 5 and 8 are "new". It's less if there's a character you've already played with. But still, at best 30% new "content" seems too much like re-treading for my taste. I would really like to skip the miner, zoo, and island if possible.

...and, it's not about time lenght! The game's been great (finished it with all the characters now), but shorter would be better!

Oh, last thing, one of the neat extras (I think?) of the PS3 version is that you can play co-op, with each player controlling one character (and easily switching between them). This has allowed me to play parts of the game with my kids, which is always a great bonus!


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria