Short length isn't a problem if the plot is interesting, but unfortunately, this isn't. Only the third ending is interesting, the other two barely even qualify as endings.
Reviews for "The Price"
Pretty good game. Controls were a little awkward, and the music got a little tiring. But for a short game like this, it works.
mmm PERFECT length! controls stuck and lagged a bit. nice psychology. a sequel of some fashion may be appropriate.
I'll try to keep this short (for a change, right):
The graphics are tiny and simple, but they do their job well. The outside world from the "moving on" ending looks so good, I wish I could play in that instead of the caves. The music is good, but listening to it over and over again made it grow old.
The gameplay itself is nothing to write home about. It works, it's a simple platformer involving the avoidance of obstacles and enemies and reaching an end goal in every level, without any distinguishing features, pretty much. It's not the worst game I've ever played, it's just not exactly innovative. The jumping controls are extremely annoying, and by reading older reviews, I notice I'm not the only one to complain about this.
The story is okay. It's kind of sad, a tiny (nearly microscopic) bit of suspense builds up as you progress through the levels, but ultimately, it lacks the depth necessary to be hooking. The endings are short, unsatisfying one-screen still pictures that hardly conclude the plot as much as one would hope. For instance, I'd love to find out what the natural light the girl sees at the left-side exit is, but alas, I'll never know.
I really don't see why this was front paged, seriously. It not only has the aforementioned shortcomings, its also extremely short, in fact, too short. I might have finished it in less than ten minutes, and that's just sad.
On the plus side, it's clear that the developers were trying for something enjoyable, and they might be on the right track. They should work on making more feature-rich gameplay, better jumping physics, and endings that actually involve cutscenes, so their next game is slightly better than this one, and they can eventually get pretty good at this.
I'd like to tell them not to let this... underwhelming experience discourage them, they might get better if they keep trying.
Even though the controls are quite tacky, I certainly like the story. Grim, dark, but well thought. A good little game.