Mobile Monday: Quiet, Please!
Haven’t you ever wanted to get away from it all? To just turn off the outside world and find some friggin peace and quiet? Sure you have. We all have. Unless you’re some kind of freak who needs constant noise to feel safe, like that weird guy who lived below me once. Damn, he was annoying. Anyway, tangent, sorry. Peace and quiet. It can be hard to find, and it is the goal in this week’s Mobile Monday game, a quirky little indie gem called Quiet, Please! Read on to learn more about it.
Quiet, Please! tells the story of a young girl who has had a long, tiresome day at school. All she wants to do is have some time to herself and relax. Something we can all relate to, I’m sure. But she barely makes it off the school bus before she is assaulted by the everyday annoyances of her homelife. The neighbor obsessively mowing his lawn, the barking dog, the father parked infront of his TV, the manic little brother who won’t leave her alone. All of these things and more stand in her way of getting her desired solitude. It’s up to you to help her figure out how to silence all the noise.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You can move the little girl left and right through the environment, and you have two action buttons: interact and item. Interact allows you to do things like open doors and flip switches, while item lets you pick up various household items you come across. Beware, though. You’re playing as a schoolgirl, so her inventory load is limited to one item at a time. Each distraction you encounter in the game can be silenced by using the items you find. Some items have obvious uses, while others require the ample application of kid logic to use properly. The girl will even chastise you for trying to get her to do something dangerous like… ohhhh, I don’t know… sticking a screwdriver in a running lawn mower. The game’s sense of humor is ever present, and makes the story come alive. I won’t tell you how long I battled the father in an epic match of TV On & Off, but it was… awhile.
The game is paced very much like an old school adventure. Explore, encounter barrier, find item to unlock barrier, enter new area to explore. The only difference is that this particular adventure takes place entierly in and around a suburban two story home. Little details like a blinking television, a ticking clock, and a running faucet all help to bring the little girl’s world to life, and help guide you towards your next goal. And just wait until you find the herd of pixelated kittens on the second floor. Cuteness overload. The game world is rendered in a bright, colorful, heavily pixelated style which harkens back to the earliest titles for the NES, and it looks phenomenal. The whimsical pangs of nostalgia will hit you quick and often during Quiet, Please! and you won’t even have to blow on your phone to get it to work. Come to think of it… an option to have the game screen start blinking blue and black at random points in the game would have been a nice touch. I’m kidding. Sorta.
While Quiet, Please! is a visual and auditory trip down memory lane, the journey doesn’t last very long. The game can be completed in an under an hour, and there isn’t any replayability to speak of. Once you figure out how to make everyone and everything shut the heck up, the fun is pretty much over. But at the low, low price of 99 cents, the game isn’t asking you to make a hefty financial commitment. Another drawback of the game is that there is no save feature. Once you begin the little girl’s quest, there’s no turning back. So make sure you have enough free time (and battery life) to complete it. One other word of advice: don’t pile your items together. The girl has the ability to pick up and drop items anywhere, and if you happen to drop one ontop of another, you might not be able to pick up the right one.
Developed by Nostatic Software, Quiet, Please! is a very enjoyable experience, and is well worth the 99 cent price tag. Initially released as an Xbox Live Arcade game, it is now available on both Android and Windows Phone platforms. There are even free versions on Android and Windows for anyone who wants to give the game a test drive before making the purchase. But trust me, you’ll want to make the purchase. I found the combination of retro gameplay and quirky humor irresistable, and I bet you will too. As long as you’re aware of the game’s limitations, you’re bound to have a great time. Quiet, Please! gets an 8 out of 10.