AGS Panel Rating

Pick of the Month

May 2004

The AGS-community surely is not surfeited on games made by women, but when they appear, it usually means you can expect something special.

Cirque De Zale, created by Kinoko, a fairly new addition to the AGS-crew, is indeed something special. Even though 2004 has not been a weak year in the games department, this might be the favourite title so far.

A great sense of humour is what brings Cirque De Zale from a decent game with nice but not outstanding graphics and puzzles, to a… masterpiece with an ingenious dialogue.

Writing a funny manuscript might be the most difficult thing you can do, while also being the thing that most unexperienced people think they can carry out, which constitutes an unfortunate equation. Too many games end up with repetitive and cheap slap-stick jokes of the kind that people concieve who never leave their rooms, or who simply are very young.

And sure, after a while you can start to recognise the jargon of protagonist Zale's cynical comments, but since the most brilliant punch-lines appear on regular basis, you will just wait for the next opportunity to laugh.

The highly original plot also helps adding to the fresh wind that this game is. Zale nonchalantly ignores all who cannot help him pursue his dream of having his own circus, and the ordinary ingredients of epic fantasy - saving princesses and so on - are sarcasticly disregarded.

All in all, this is one of my personal top ten games ever, and I can only congratulate Kinoko for her great work.

Selected by: Andail