I'm not too great at writing feelings which sucks because this little game stirs up a lot of them. I was ZZT'ing back when I was a pimple faced kid in high school who was Charlie Brown and couldn't do anything right.<br /> <br /> Then I found ZZT. Oh my gosh I could actually PROGRAM!!! Then I found a BBS - remember those? Oh my gosh there were OTHER PEOPLE who liked ZZT!!! <br /> <br /> I spend way the hell too many hours I should have been sleeping playing every random ZZT world I could grab and chatting when our crappy dial up service wasn't barfing all over our 14.4 modem. <br /> <br /> Then we got a new 56k modem (GEE WHIZ) and I could browse ZZT FORUMS!!! And I could laugh at all the RANDOM CRAP we talked about.<br /> <br /> And now after all these years its finally really slowing to a stop. Doctor Dos gives it a really nice little sendoff in this game/tribute/whatthehelldoIcallit that isn't too short or too long and isn't full of stupid memes or super complicated fight sequences.<br /> <br /> I think that's just about what the doctor ordered. Thanks Doc for putting this up as a last hoorah and all your closer looks at ZZT games on your blog. You have no idea how much we thank you.
A loving tribute to ZZT, with some interestingly original gameplay sequences as well, and a must play for any ZZTer still out there. 5/5.
The venerable ZZT genius that is Dr. Dos shines once again in this little gem, which can be described as a playable tribute to ZZT and the community it spawned, from the title to the plot (such as it is) to the nods to a few famous fangames.<br /> <br /> Playwise, "Ruins" could be described as something between the original TOUR and TOWN worlds. The puzzles aren't horribly difficult or repetitive - instead they come off like sampling different flavors of ice cream. You get just a little taste of the dark-room puzzles, the slider puzzles, the clearable-forest-with-monsters puzzle, etc. that we all know so well. This again adds to the 'tribute' attitude of the game quite nicely.<br /> <br /> Don't go in expecting an epic adventure or jawdropping scenery because you won't find them here. However, Dr.Dos did manage to sneak in a "sword engine" which is both clever in its own right and probably the last truly unique feature we're likely to see out of ZZT. Again, a worthy tribute.<br /> <br /> Playing Ruins, one can't help but smile at the feelings evoked if you've been a longtime ZZT fan from getting one last go-round of classic action combined with a few small but nifty twists. It's easily completed in 15 minutes at most and could be a spiffy introduction to ZZT for newbies. But its intention is for oldsters like me - to give us one very last small drink for the road: undoubtedly sad at finally leaving behind something irreplaceable, but grateful beyond words for the good times that were had.<br /> <br /> Play Ruins - and raise a final toast to 20 years of humorous oddity, programming ingenuity, and imaginative variety. There was nothing quite like it in all the world.
