Spider and Web
Andrew Plotkin
Platform: Z-code?
Rating: 8.5
Total Votes: 94
Std. Dev.: +- 1.5
Average Playtime: Between 2 and 6 hours
Genre: Espionage / Science Fiction / Mystery / Experimental / Puzzle-fest / Surreal / Adaptation
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Audience Comments:1/30/07 01:04 PM
Rating:7
9/29/06 10:37 AM
This is the first IF game that I've completed. When I was getting into IF a short while ago, I've picked this one based on it's reputation. I've really enjoyed the game but I'm feeling sorry that I've used the solution a bit too often. In retrospect I think I could have solved all of the puzzles on my own (some of them are quite hard, though).
The game becomes kind of conventional after the nice central puzzle that separates the two parts of the plot/reality. Other than that, it's just brilliant -- the author must be a very intelligent person indeed.
Rating:9
9/20/06 09:50 PM
What's worse than a guess-the-verb puzzle? A guess-the-noun puzzle. What's worse than a guess-the-noun puzzle? A guess-the-story puzzle. I'm sorry, but despite the rave reviews, this game does nothing for me. First of all, the flashback story device is a bit worn out by now, no? Or maybe I'm just biased. What's worse than a flashback is one that you have to *guess* the details of. I got as far as the lab door, and then I gave up. Don't get me wrong, the plot itself seems quite promising, but I had spent the last several hours trying to figure out exactly what it is---by trial and error as it were. So it was a clever trick that instead of killing off the PC, you return to the interrogation chamber and have the plot shouted at you, detail by detail. Maybe I totally missed the point of this, or maybe I didn't persevere long enough to get to the juicier parts of the story. But if the plot has already been predetermined---down to every last detail, no less---then I'm not sure what's the point of playing it in the first place. I might as well read a book. I would've given up on the story much earlier had it not been for all the rave reviews, so I thought I should stick with it a bit longer to see if it turned out to pleasantly surprise me after all. Unfortunately, the pleasant surprise---if there is one---didn't come in time to keep my attention. Alright, now I got it off my chest. Having said all that, the writing is very good, which I suppose has to be the case if everybody else is giving it rave reviews. The tools the PC has are very creatively designed. Unfortunately I didn't have the patience to get far enough to actually use them. There were some things that perhaps could've been implemented better---e.g., I found it very annoying when the game tells me that in order to put something in the hole in the ceiling I had to take it out of my toolbox first, all the while my fingers are bleeding away holding on to edge. But these are just minor complaints; the overall implementation is quite solid.
Overall, I find the plot-guessing device just way too frustrating and contrived---instead of telling you something doesn't work, you have a grim interrogator slap you in the face and tell you that's not what you do. This completely offset the good points of the story---which I presume are there judging from all the rave reviews---and turned me off enough that I just didn't feel like continuing. I would've given it less than a 5, but thought 5 is fair because I never finished the game. Maybe I'm alone in feeling this way, but I thought I should write this review anyway, just to offer a different take on the whole excitement.
Rating:5
8/02/06 03:50 PM
Well worth the repeated banging of my head against the white, featureless corridor walls.
Rating:10
7/17/06 11:48 AM
Like alot of people, I thought this game was great, and saying more seems kind of superfluous. I thought a couple of parts were unfair (even if there is an arguable logic behind them), but overall a fun and ingenious game on many levels.
Rating:9
6/05/06 03:01 PM
Enough has been said about it.I didn't find "Spider and Web" terribly difficult and finished it without hints or walkthrough.It has made a difference.
Rating:10
3/15/06 12:47 PM
One of the most character-involving pieces of IF I've experienced. Few works fit you as tightly into a character's shoes as this one. Innovative structure has you interacting with your interrogator by means of multiple flashbacks. The NPC is convincing and real.
Rating:8
1/29/06 07:23 PM
Great twist. Seemed extremely difficult toward the end, however, as there were some unusual decisions required.
Rating:9
10/11/05 09:39 PM
i give it 10. And Game deserve it
Rating:10
9/05/05 05:31 AM
Really difficult
Rating:8
9/04/05 11:34 PM
I found Spider and The Web to be a pretty frustrating game. The game is very linear and it relies early on on a variation of "you have died, try again", with the only benefit that you don't need to restore your game.
The first puzzle is very simple, but after that, the difficulty of the puzzles become harder and harder each time, almost exponentially. Getting to the one really beautiful puzzle in the game requires you to have solved a pretty hard one before.
Worse, after the best puzzle in the game is solved and the story comes full circle, the rest of the game seems tacked on and not as inspiring. By then, I had lost all interest and was just following the hints.
Rating:7
7/21/05 08:14 AM
A great game technically and in terms of what it does with the form but I got bored of the setting pretty quickly and gave up.
Rating:6
2/16/06 05:40 PM
Not only is it well-written and well-described; not only does it contain one of the best-realized NPCs I've seen, but the game revolves around what might be the cleverest plot twist I've seen in IF.
Rating:9
7/09/05 11:23 PM
Wonderful game, storytelling device is fantastic...it becomes a little more of a normal "trial and error until success" game at the end but overall very fantastic, espescially when you figure out the subtleties of the plot.
Rating:9
5/26/05 02:21 AM
Rating:1
3/31/05 10:16 AM
This game has what I consider to be the best puzzle ever. Outside of that, it's very well polished -- the puzzles are good and make sense, the game is very forgiving, and your actions are (usually) intuitive. The game is on-rails, but that's a very minor misgiving about a great game.
Rating:10
3/11/05 02:56 PM
Based on all the praise over the years I thought I'd like it a lot more. It starts strong but doesn't keep it up. The "conceit" is fairly obviously borrowed in retrospect.
Rating:6
3/08/05 09:36 PM
I just never could get into this one. I know everyone else says it's fantastic, but I just don't see it.
Rating:6
3/04/05 01:40 AM
Rating:10
3/03/05 08:37 PM
Rating:9
2/28/05 02:15 AM
Rating:8
2/12/05 07:24 AM
Rating:10
12/05/04 11:07 AM
Very original, and very well executed. Perhaps a tad hard at times, but very well executed.
Rating:9
2/03/06 07:12 AM
Yeah, yeah, everyone loves this game, but it left me somewhat cold, the writing I found stilted, the puzzles surprisingly unsatisfying, the world just not as engaging as some of Plotkin's others. Maybe there's simply no way for it to live up to the hype. Still a quality game, of course.
Rating:6
11/16/04 08:08 PM
Rating:9
11/09/04 03:26 AM
Worth a 10 for the initial "Aha" moment, the cleverness of the situation, and the wonderful final "Aha" moment later. The ending is weaker, and some of the puzzles "too hard" (well, for me, I used the walkthrough when I got stuck), but this doesn't detract from the brilliance of the concept.
Rating:10
10/26/04 01:17 PM
Unique.
Rating:9
9/09/04 09:03 PM
Oh yes. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. THE Puzzle (and I promise you, you will *know* which one I mean by that) is not only genius on a number of different levels, but it also provided me with the all-time best "A-HA!" moment I have ever experienced playing a work of IF. That said, though, I would not recommend this one for beginners, not so much because it is "hard," but rather because I think that a real appreciation of its cleverness somewhat depends on player familiarity with IF conventions. This game is marred for me only by the endgame -- which is to say, everything that comes after THE Puzzle. The endgame is both timed and difficult, and yet it *still* manages to feel profoundly anticlimactic. I also found that my irritation with the endgame detracted a great deal from the potential impact of the game's final decision point. Still. Quibbles. I would *highly* recommend this game, although not for the rank newbie.
Rating:9
6/05/04 01:05 PM
Rating:9
5/01/04 11:04 AM
Rating:9
3/09/04 04:21 PM
Rating:10
3/01/04 06:12 AM
The plot is less than gripping, the setting is rather sterile and the atmosphere lacks Zarf's usual tactility. The game does become more rewarding towards the end, with some interesting exploration of the gulf between what the player knows and what the PC knows, but this is still my least favourite Plotkin IF.
Rating:7
1/29/04 01:14 PM
Rating:9
12/14/03 08:31 AM
Riveting. Simply one of the best.
Rating:10
11/29/03 12:21 PM
A masterpiece. Cool gadgets to play with, a mix of easy and hard puzzles, and a fabulous and inventive use of medium. Cleverly creates tension while allowing you to `fail' without losing the game (until quite late in the process). Much has been made of the difficulty of the puzzles, but I found only one difficult and this because my interpreter was not doing a good job displaying the game's multiple fonts.
This is my top favorite game to recommend to those who are *not* new to the genre but have played, say, a half dozen other games.
Rating:10
11/21/03 08:40 AM
Rating:10
11/21/03 05:14 AM
Rating:10
11/26/03 01:41 PM
Pretty good game, but not the best. Story starts strong but becomes almost surreal towards the end. Some of the high-tech stuff wasn't described very well, leading to "brute force" switch-flipping and button-pressing. A lot of learn-by-dying. - JAA
Rating:7
9/23/03 11:07 AM
Simply great.
Rating:9
9/21/03 01:06 PM
Not the true masterpiece I expected from the rave reviews. At times too confusing and at other times too laconic.
Rating:7
9/16/03 06:54 AM
The best IF I've played so far. A very good game, not so difficult (take Spellbreaker, or nearly any Infocom game, for example : those are difficult), with a central puzzle which makes the whole excellent.
Rating:9
8/01/04 04:27 PM
This game channels the player towards a pivotal, brilliant, "gestalt" puzzle that requires the player to piece together a couple of different patterns that the narrative has created through its repetition of the backstory. The fact that the puzzle works so well is impressive all by itself, but "Spider and Web" also features clipped, stylish prose that creates a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere and describes a sinister, memorable NPC.
Rating:9
9/08/03 04:33 AM
Toys to play with, a use of the medium which causes no end of discussion, and that puzzle.
Rating:10
9/07/03 02:02 PM
simply great
Rating:10
8/23/03 09:40 AM
I'd heard so much about this game being a masterpiece, and don't get me wrong, the idea behind this really is a work of genius, but the puzzles are just too hard. I spent hours on this without getting anywhere, and in the end I had to resort to a walkthrough. It's a great game dragged down by too many frustrating puzzles.
Rating:6
8/21/03 04:00 PM
Good, but not the best. It felt too much like I was playing a game; the story was obviously there, but every time I messed up on one of the puzzles, I felt like the game was slapping me over the head saying, "Nope. Try again.~ And the puzzles are hard enough where this happened quite frequently for me. Once you have to resort to the walkthrough on most games, story gimmiks tend to suffer. This is particularly true of this game.
Rating:7
8/12/03 04:18 PM
Rating:9
8/12/03 02:26 AM
Starts out brilliantly, and the narrative conceits will blow you away. But the puzzles are hard. Seriously hard. Way too hard. Which is a shame because there is some incredible stuff hidden away underneath all those tricky puzzles. Play it with a walkthrough.
Rating:6
8/25/03 03:21 AM
Rating:6
7/31/03 10:30 PM
Not the best espionage game, but worth playing for the twist.
Rating:7
7/23/03 09:19 AM
Rating:9
7/20/03 04:03 PM
Excellent meshing of problem and story. The individual puzzles are well-crafted
and well-timed. For some strange reason, I found the central puzzle to be one of the easiest ones - I take this was not a common experience. Nevertheless, solving the puzzle exhilarated me, and somehow pulled me into the character; the segment fulfills its dramatic purpose admirably.
I disliked the opening slightly, as it read like the beginning of one of many
novels and scripts written by Anglophone writers about Central-Eastern Europe;
there cannot be a frame without decay and grime. The rest played out very well as a pastiche of a Cold War spy movie. It is also a much better work than
any such movie I have seen. Mr. Plotkin has an unusual talent for exploiting
the potentialities of the medium, and here he has found means outside the
capabilities of cinema for creating involvement and suspense.
Rating:9
7/17/03 02:16 PM
Rating:9
7/16/03 05:16 PM
My favorite IF -- close to perfect. The form of the first half is brilliant, and works well; the writing is (as ever with Zarf), superb; the best puzzle is the model of a great puzzle.
That said, some of the puzzles are annoying, and I used a walkthrough at points. Further, the time pressure in the endgame is obnoxious.
Rating:10
7/12/03 05:27 PM
Rating:8
7/11/03 11:25 AM
Rating:9
12/04/05 02:08 PM
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
I had a hard time rating this game - on the one hand, the concept is wonderful, and the execution is brilliant. On the other hand, I found it too difficult, and rather frustrating. In the end I decided that, like in every literary genre, being a masterpiece in IF does not equate universal accessibility and enjoyment.
Rating:9
6/25/05 12:27 PM
Difficult game with a spin on learn-by-dying. It is intricate but at times a little melodramatic.
Rating:7
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Very challenging and satisfying.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
About 10 years ago, I enjoyed the puzzleness of Zork and it's successors. Now I enjoy games where the puzzles have more of a reason to exist. The first thing that turned me off of Christminster was the initial puzzle of finding how to get in the college. The actions seemed almost unnecessary and random. I also feel that needing to die (read: fail) in a game over and over in order to collect all the information like in Varicella is also unnessary. What Plotkin does in Spider and Web is masterful. Failing, as it were, to do the 'correct' thing doesn't end the game, it allows you to redo it, giving hints on what was not done right. The devices you carry are a bit strange at first, but there is no penalization for messing around with them to see how they work.
By the time the second half of the game is reached, where it is more possible to die, it becomes less of an issue. You've had time to explore the area and figure out what things look like and how things work. A very satisfying game where both story and puzzles are blended well. Also, lot of good games nowadays seem to have a problem with length, but Spider and Web comes out just right.
Rating:9
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:9
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:8
7/11/03 03:06 PM
Rating:7
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Simultaneously one of the best 'experimental' exploitations of the medium and one of the best conventional IF games I have played.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Very intriguing and original idea. Implemented well, however I found the hidden agenda to be rather baffling, so the novelty of the big "turning point" was lost on me.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
The first half was very interesting and clever, but the conclusion disappointed me.
Rating:7
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Puzzle-centric game requiring considerable intuition and/or deliberation. As puzzles they're superb - they are fair and original- and the central theme provides for a number of twists.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Very difficult puzzles, but some extraordinarily clever ones, plus superb dialogue and story.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Far and away Zarf's most 'accessible' major game; the puzzles border on perfection, being both mind-twistingly difficult, and yet always leaving even a novice player with a sense that he *can* solve it, if he just puts his mind to it.
Rating:9
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Very difficult but rewarding.
Rating:7
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Story has some excellent twists.
Rating:9
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Played with a walkthrough at times and still regret it. Brilliant puzzles: very hard, but very fair.
Rating:9
7/11/03 12:47 PM
You're literally tied to a chair to have plot shouted at you. That this is not a crippling defect is a testament to the cleverness of this game's central device. It's a wonderful concept, executed thoughtfully. -DJW
Rating:9
7/10/03 12:10 PM
The central gimmick (replay 'till you get it right) worked well. I felt encouraged to try off-the-wall things. Rather difficult game, one of the best "what the...?" moments in IF. And I love attitude!
Rating:9
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Has one brilliant idea and a host of smaller ideas as offshoots, plus some gadgets to play with. As usual, Plotkin is a master of proper game design.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
A really original idea, brilliantly executed. This is one of my very favourite games.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Brilliant. Cool spy gadgets *and* a great narrative structure.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
In the interest of not spoiling the opening twist of the story, I'll just say that there are even better ones later on. This is a great game where figuring out what's going on is the overarching puzzle, underneath which are laid several more well-done puzzles.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Masterfully plotted, with one of the best puzzles ever devised.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
The best use of IF as a game.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Clever and atmospheric with some excellent writing; a fine achievement.
Rating:7
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Incredibly, incredibly hard and very clever; twists so violently that it's inclined to snap the casual player.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Some really excellent puzzles and great overall game design.
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Brilliant and devious.
Rating:9
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:10
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:9
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