QCF: My Ex-Boyfriend The Space Tyrant

nfortunately there's little for LGBT folk when it comes to the mainstream culture of video games. There are very few games themselves that deal with the kind of issues relatable with the gay community, and often when homosexuality is bought up it's as a childish punchline ala Blood Dragon. Despite this, though, there are a few indie games that do appeal to this less-than-marketed-to demographic, and thankfully these games fill a void that other games are just afraid to even acknowledge.

Step in My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant, a traditional point-and-click adventure title that finally gives the gay community something to relate to in a videogame. That said, just because it caters to a community that wouldn't usually have a game like this, it still doesn’t guarantee that it'll be any good, as you may find out in the following review.

As mentioned My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant is a traditional point and click adventure game in nearly every aspect. If you've played the old Monkey Island games or even Leisure Suit Larry then you'll know what to expect: Narrative-focused dialogue and brain-teasing puzzles. With this in mind, Space Tyrant replicated these elements pretty well, but unfortunately succumbs to the cliches that make even those classics an irritating experience. For example, not being able to progress unless you've spoken to one specific NPC, or even just trouble with vague puzzles. Thankfully, Space Tyrant tries to avoid these irritants by including an option to highlight just the interactive elements, and a hint button that will give you a vague definition of your task. These are welcome additions, but still doesn't stop the game from occasionally frustrating you when you didn't talk to the right person at the right time. It's in this way that the game can get annoying, especially when you walk so slow and will most likely have to go back to several locations over and over to progress.

However, gameplay has never been the main focus of any point-and-click game, and Space Tyrant doesn't change this. The main plot sets you on a pulpy sci-fi adventure wherein you have to stop your ex-boyfriend from conquering the galaxy. This tongue in cheek premise is a genuinely entertaining setup. However, many faults with the game comes from a writing perspective. The game's humor mostly consists of innuendos and exaggerations of gay stereotypes. This is all fine at first, but this type of humor soon becomes tiresome, and you really spend a lot of the game groaning at failed attempts to be silly. Although there are some laugh-out-loud moments, these are few and far between. This isn't to say that the game doesn't have it's more tender moments -- some sweet parts in the game could make you feel as if there's something more to the game other than puzzles and cock jokes.

The presentation also drags the premise down. Regardless of a nice and non-offensive art style, most of the art assets don't gel together well. The characters themselves look defined, but the environments sometimes stand out from the rest in a bad way. There were also a couple of drawings that just looked shoddy and stood out because they looked extremely less detailed than anything else in the game. This doesn't make Space Tyrant look particularly good either, considering the amount of technical bugs the game features in the animation department. Many times my character bumped right into objects and kept running into them for a while. This not only spoils the animation but also draws attention to the programming that would allow him run right into scenery when exiting an area.

Still, the game does have charm, and it's nice to see silly cheesecake titillation that isn't exclusively targeted towards straight men all the time. And as mentioned before, the game's sweeter moments add up to something that, while not amazing deep, provides a nice touch of cleverness to an otherwise innuendo-obsessed game. Presentation issues aside, there is some fun to be had here, and if you're a 'gaymer' like me then you just might appreciate the breath of fresh air that this brings into your usually straight video game viewpoints. It's not that good by any means, but with the potential here I'm definitely looking forward to whatever game the creator has "coming" next.

"Coming"... see? Innuendo! Even I can do it.