A week after Her Majesty’s SPIFFING was released on both PC and Xbox One, the PS4 version has now shown up as well. The space-based adventure game has made it onto (digital) shelves just in time for Christmas, and is a nice present for backers like myself who pledged just over two years ago.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haJDhK-TXrY[/embedyt]However it’s not just backers who are pleased with the final version of Her Majesty’s SPIFFING. Developer Billy Goat Entertainment are helpfully keeping track of all professional review scores (both good and bad) and there are very encouraging signs. Nine of the ten scores so far are in the range 7.5/10 to 9.5/10, with the lowest score a still respectable 3/5. Gamer reaction is promising as well – an impressive 39 of the 40 Steam reviews are positive. And in fact the one negative reviewer admits to enjoying the game and finding it humorous. They just found it too short!
The length of the game is frequently mentioned by many of the reviewers, as is the particularly British sense of humour. While I personally loved the humour and voice acting, the short duration is a valid point. In defense of SPIFFING however, there’s no overly obtuse puzzles which many adventure games use to pad out their length. And it’s definitely worth a second (or even third) playthrough as several puzzles have more than one possible solution.
The Empire Staggers Back
As well as the Steam reviews, it’s also worth mentioning the scores Her Majesty’s SPIFFING has received on consoles. The Xbox One version currently has an average score of 4.6/5. The PS4 version meanwhile is sitting pretty on 5/5, although the latter is admittedly only from three scores.
Still, all this positive news makes its absence from GOG.com even more of a mystery. SPIFFING was seemingly turned down by GOG after a representative was unimpressed by a (very) early prototype. Based on the praise SPIFFING has received so far, you can’t help but feel they’ll be looking to reverse that decision soon.
