Haha! How do you like them apples?! All right, that's done. You knew it was coming when you saw the name of the game, but now you don't have to sit there going, "Oh man, I bet he's going to end this by asking us how we like them apples." Expectations fulfilled AND subverted. Now, we can move on to this review of Apples in the Tree by MasterMerol. It's a game about... well, that's kind of up to you.
Apples in the Tree is primarily an exploration game with a little bit of point-and-click thrown in. You take control of a long-legged lady in patchwork clothes, using [WASD] (or the [arrow] keys) to move around, [spacebar] to run and the mouse to interact with things. Your goal is to get to the eponymous apples in the tree not once, but four times. Along the way you can help the strange folks who inhabit your land or not. Aside from the title and the controls, you're given very little guidance. You're thrown into the game's world and you take the paths you want.
Analysis: Apples in the Tree has a lot going for it. It has a very distinct style that seems inspired by Tim Burton and Jhonen Vasquez. However, while the influences show, the character and world design are unique and well-crafted so everything feels fresh. It's a lot of fun to see the sights of the small world around you and that's what will keep you going even though the controls are very sluggish. Thankfully, you won't need a lot of precision in your movements.
Aside from the look, Apples in the Tree scores points with the openness of the game. The lack of direction is more refreshing than disorienting or confusing and it adds to the nice amount of replay value the game already has. With three different endings and the environment changing every time you come back from the tree, there's a lot to experiment with and explore. It's doubtful you'll see everything Apples in the Tree has to offer on your first go-round.
It does need to be said that there's a few instances of profanity, so this one isn't for the kids. Everyone else should give the game a few plays. What might seem at first like something that will only appeal to people who wear 'Nightmare Before Christmas' hoodies soon turns into a game that looks great and has a lot of depth.
the controls in the game dont work. once the girl starts to walk she wont stop. so you cant make her jump or crouch and if you hit a wall she wont turn around she just keeps walking into the wall.
[Use WASD (or arrow keys) for keyboard control. Click on the game window if your keyboard is unresponsive. -Jay]
I have encountered the same problem as JIGuest while using IE. I did click on the window before, but the game was unresponsive. I've tried Firefox then, and up until now everything is working.
[I just tried the game using IE8 on both Windows 7 and Windows XP and had no problem with the controls at all. Make sure your Flash Player is updated, and be sure you're using WASD (or arrow keys). -Jay]
That was kind of fun, but I don't think I understood the plot.
I really enjoyed that. The animation was quite striking but the music did get to me after a while.
From what I can gather there must be different endings or achievements depending on whether you help people or not and whether you decide to get revenge on the boy or not. Don't have time to check that all out just now.
I really like the art, music, and gameplay (aside from the crappy controls) but I'm really not getting the story... at all. I got the "nice girl" achievement/ ending, maybe I'll try for more later....
Hey, what's wrong with Nightmare hoodies?!? ;)
Walkthrough
Nice Ending
Head right and enter the house by clicking on the door. Click on the wardrobe to open it. Pick up the guitar.
Exit the house and head right until you reach another house. Go inside and click the down arrow on the elevator. Kill all the bugs by jumping on them several times. (There is a pumpkin in the next room that can be destroyed by jumping on it enough times, but that doesn't seem to effect the overall outcome of the game.) Go back upstairs.
Go outside and head right. When you come to a "divide" in the road, jump to the upper path. Keep going right and jump up to the cat in the woods. Then jump left along the branches to get back to the little girl with the cat.
Leave to the left. Continue heading left until you see pumpkins on the left side of the screen. START WALKING! DO NOT RUN or you will break some of the pumpkins and piss off the scarecrow. Walk up to the guy sitting on the steps, and chose the "he didn't mean to..." option. You will be back outside your house. You MAY go inside and get the skull mask out of the box in the wardrobe. The piggy bank doesn't seem to have any purpose at all...
WALK back across the pumpkin patch and go inside the house. Head upstairs and up the ladder. Go left and fall to the ledge with the baby bird. Fall back to the ground, go back inside the house, and enter the tunnel.
Once in the tunnel, just keep heading left until you arrive at the elevator. Click the switch and head up to the apple tree. Walk left and click on the tree. Watch cutscene. (Note the creepy new look if you picked up the skull mask before.)
Head outside, go left, and WALK through the pumpkin patch. Keep going left until you come to the platforms floating on the water. Jump across the first three, and wait for the fourth to come back down. Ride in to the top and jump off to the left. Follow the bottom path when the path branches off. When you get to a part with grass growing, head back and jump up to the previous platform. Walk left and get the letter. Take it back right to the very first part where the path branched off. Jump up and walk over to the guy with a "J" on his shirt. Then proceed back to the left and out to the apple tree again. Walk left and click on the tree. Cutscene.
Go outside and head left. Go to the top of the big building, take the ladder to the roof, and jump across to the now-working elevator. Take it up. Follow the path left and right until you come to a spot where it suddenly branches off. Go right into the little cave and give the baby bird back to its mommy. Take any of the path as you head further left as they all head to the tree. Click on the tree. Cutscene.
Go outside and head right. When you come to the "fork" in the road, go down and across the platforms in the water. Continue right. Click on the guy hanging upside down and free him. Click arrows to continue conversation. Cutscene. Click the tree. Another cutscene. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU JUST FINISHED THE GAME THE NICE WAY!
Mean Ending
Go right to the house. Go inside and get the guitar from the wardrobe.
Head outside. Go left to the pumpkin patch. Run and jump on all the pumpkins! Walk to the guy sitting on the steps. Choose the "REVENGE!!!" option. Run back left and go inside the big house. Go into the tunnel, and head left until you come to an elevator. Click the lever and ride the elevator up. Go left and click on the apple tree. Cutscene.
Go outside and head left until you come to platforms floating in the water. Jump across the first three and wait for the fourth to come back down. Ride it up and jump right. Follow the bottom path each time until you come to the third branch. Jump up and get the letter. Head back to the previous split in the path and give the letter to the guy with the L on his shirt. head back left to the tree. Click on the tree. Cutscene.
Head outside and left to the big house. Go inside and upstairs. Take the ladder to the roof. Jump across to the now-working elevator. Take the elevator up. Follow the path left and right. When there's a hole in the ground, go into it and talk to the bird. When the path branches off, take the highest path. Talk to the hunter. Click on the tree. Cutscene.
Head outside and go right, until you come to a fork in the road. Take the bottom road and jump across the platforms. Keep heading right, and click on the guy in the tree. Cutscene. Click on the tree. Cutscene.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU JUST FINISHED THE GAME THE MEAN WAY! AND DIED!
This was also my first walkthrough ever... so post any comments you think might improve the walkthrough! Thanks!
There are more than 2 endings.
If you play mean, then pass the man by, you find a boat. Taking this boat gives the Coward Ending.
I'm not sure how mean you need to be or what, but I get the definite feeling there are more than even these 3 endings.
That was interesting!
The ending I got was
"Won't you eat it?"
I wonder what that means?
The controls get a little glitchy sometimes, but it's forgiveable since it's not a platformer or anything.
I like it =)
I finished the game in having gotten revenge and stomping all of the pumpkins in the patch. Everything else I did nice. I ended up with three seeds.
Additional areas if it hasn't been already mentioned.
Go to sleep and wait... wait... and you'll end up in a dreamland with 4 minigame/areas to explore.
Well, something no-one has commented on yet-
When you are in your house, you can click on your bed; leave it alone for a bit, and you get transported into a dreamland with four paths, which seem to have time specific minigames or something.
I dunno, since I still haven't gotten anything done yet, but it could prove interesting.
Heeeey!!!
That's such a great review man!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Partial guide for the dreams:
To get into the dreams, just click the bed in the house, then wait for a minute or so.
Left- this is some sort of demon stomping thing- it is timed, and you have to stomp all 20 before time runs out. If you jump when one of the demons is popped up, you can land on it.
Down left- through the water; Make sure you jump over the pit in the beginning.
There is an elevator to the far left of that area, so don't just jump into the pit. You won't get the key to open the locked door, that way.
After you ride the elevator and get the key, just run left, open the door, and remove all the harpoons.
Down right; into the pit- This is a graveyard. When you're done with this place, just jump off a cliff. I don't know any more than that.
Right- First thing you notice is a person yelling help right below you; you can rescue him if you are very fast. You don't have to, though you get him as an inventory item after doing so. No idea where to go from there.
All you have to do to beat this is to beat the tornado of souls to hanger 18.
Ok, one more thing.
Bring the guy you rescue on "Right" to the graveyard, go left, and Ozzy Osborn gives you his autograph.
Didn't work for me either and im using firefox
The controls really are terrible. It's dreadfully slow, to the point that it punishes you for exploration. It's a coffee-break style game that would take a full lunch hour to play, just because of the poor controls. Combined with the repetitive music, it's a joyless experience. Once I got to the featureless dirt tunnel that never seemed to end, I simply closed it. There's no way I could justify spending so much time on even a single playthrough, much less on pursuing the multiple endings. If the maker is reading this, seriously, please, make the character move faster so you can actually get -to- the interesting, playable bits.
Jumping is very hard in a lot of places. I almost gave up on the game because of it, but was glad I persevered. Nice atmospheric game.
Is anyone keeping track of the different endings?
I found a neutral ending. Don't do anyone favors, but don't make anyone mad. In the last area where you'll usually find the guy in the tree, he won't be there, but you'll fall in a trap and he'll rescue you instead.
I got the Coward ending.
What is up with the apple tree?
Picking an apple makes things worse, apparently. She drops a wizened apple in the water...and gets a full one. ????
And then the soul tornado kept sucking me in before I rescued the kid. Soooooo close!
No one's mentioned this, so...
When you go through the tunnel that had the big rock in it, go all the way to the left. Jump off the left of the geyser rock. You get some sort of tool/lunchbox. What do I do with it?
Ah, give it to the girl in the house. It's the thing she lost in the caves.
Whoops. I got the nice ending. Three seeds with helping everyone. Being nice, yet smashing pumpkins and beating guitar boy up has the nice result as well.
Needs a motion sickness warning, def wishing I hadn't tried that.
Apo - you know you can run if you hold down the space bar, right? She actually moves much faster that way.
Right now I am having a terrible time in the Tornado of Souls game. I cannot for the life of me get to the kid in time to not get eaten by the tornado. I did it ONCE but it was because the game glitched out and started me right in front of the kid so I could just grab him and run through the rest of the game.
Is there someway to trigger that to happen or do they really expect you to make that time run with such sloppy controls?
This game has a great aesthetic to it. It's a real testament to the care taken to its style that I kept trying to play it well after I was absolutely frustrated by the jumps. I wish I could see the rest of it but the controls are simply too terrible for me to try any longer.
Very original game - me likes!
I found 4 endings:
* coward, run by the guy at the end (i did on nice mode, guess its the same when evil)
* mrs nice, do all kind of favors, preserve pumpkins
* when you are evil, destroy pumpkins, revenge (your brother?), give note to wrong guy.
* gray fox, be balanced: I destroyed pumpkins, took revenge, but also rescued the cat and cleaned the cellar of bugs. (Personally I liked that ending best!)
I wonder about the hidden message of the apples. I dont quite get it. I suppose the theme of adolescence is quite obvious but might the apples represent years? Or The forbidden fruit of knowledge? I dont know.
I want to like this game, but I have a specific control problem: I can't run and jump to the left. If I hold down D and the space bar, I will run to the right and with the W key I can jump. If I hold down A and the space bar, I will run to the left but the space bar does nothing. Thoughts?
[Try reloading the page and try it again. Ray (MasterMerol) just sent me a new version that supports the arrow keys as well. I just tried running and jumping to the left and right using all key combinations without issue. I'm using the latest versions of Firefox and Flash Player on a Mac. -Jay]
I have many things to say about this game. First, I, personally, don't have any idea why so many people are complaining about the music in this game. I loved it, and the soundtrack didn't seem to get annoying or repetitive after listening to it for hours, and I thought it kept the same feel to it through multiple listens. There's no accounting for taste and I might be able to imagine how some people could dislike it, but I'd just like to say that I found the soundtrack wonderful and of no great annoyance.
Ditto with the controls. They were pretty sluggish, but not as bad as anybody here has voiced them to be, I just find it vaguely annoying that I have to hold down the spacebar for all complicated bits of gameplay; not as mind-numbingly frustrating and infuriating as people here make it out to be. And even so, this game is mainly of exploration and imagery, not the gameplay and controls. The bits of gameplay itself aren't overly difficult either, nothing that can't be solved by trying a few times.
But I agree that big problem is how, while this game is positively brimming with replay value, the long distances and large scenery rotations make it annoying to finish the game multiple times the normal way, and is downright infuriating when you play like me (going back and forth across the whole screening, going to the place your supposed to last). I could think of a few places where lengths could be cut without compromising the art too much.
And finally, is the spelling and grammar of this. I didn't mind it, and it had no effect on the quality of the game, but it's quite sloppy. The exclamation points are running rampant throughout, and I would advise cutting down on them. Use only two, four maximum. It doesn't tell much, but it gives people less to nitpick.
Other than this, though, I found it a very nice and enlightening experience to play this game. Enlightening how? I don't quite know, but I got that feel from it. Anywho, great job, and brilliant artwork, and I would love to see more from you. The Nice Ending practically screams sequel. =D
... I typed too much.
My feeling was like Apo's -- it took me a long time to figure out I could run. And the controls were punishingly awful. WASD with no arrow option? To jump across a wide space, I have to hold two keys down with my left hand and the spacebar with my right? Gameplay just too clunky to bother finishing.
[Arrow keys are now supported. -Jay]
I really like the look of this game, but unfortunately the controls still don't work for me. I'm on an intel Mac running OS X 10.5 and using Google Chrome. Flash player is fully updated.
Safari runs it fine, though.
Holding run and arrows did not work on sharp turns. I don't have the wherewithal to continue trying to figure out how the author intended the controls to work there. I quit after finding the cat but not able to get back.
To everyone who has problems with controls sticking update your flash player if it still sticks switch to Firefox i know no one really wants to switch but when i did it it stopped so yeah thought i would say give it a shot cause that's what fixed it for me.
pellia-
I had trouble with that spot as well, getting up onto the trees after finding the cat (running Firefox v3.6.8).
It seems like running with the spacebar did not allow you to also jump. Running with cntrl did, however - that's how I got past the trees.
That bugged me a bit, but otherwise, cool game! (I love exploration-type things like this.)
Did anyone else get her to dream? (Not sure if that's necessary to win it yet)
-Myra
The dream about the beast of pirates bay:
When you get to the beast, you remove the metal things on him.
then, he eats ya.
Eh... one thing, the "guy" on the tornado of souls dream... IS NOT A GUY, DAMN IT, ITS OZZY OSBOURNE'S WIFE! :| gosh...! ^o)
I would really like someones interpretation of the whole game, dont like when I cant figure out the meaning of stuff... =)
(the only ending missing for me is the neutral, im doing it right now...)
The art, the style, the atmosphere are really cool.
I soooooooooo love the main character.
And I also think, there should be sequels.
Loved this game! I already got the 4 endings mentioned above, so I'm currently trying to determine the song played at the end (the accordion tune). I've looked up all the songs given in the credits, but I couldn't find that melody... Or did I miss it?
Does anyone know what the ending theme's called (or what song it's part of)?
If I go far enough to the right, there's a choice between going underground and jumping onto a hill. I can NOT get up onto that hill, no matter what I do. I'm using Firefox in WinXP.
And so of course at the very moment I complain, I finally get it to work.
I've been unable to jump while running, which I figured is what I needed to do, but it just wasn't working. Naturally, the power of the post made that combo work for the first time.
i used firefox, and it doesn't work, it goes to the scene where the 'girl' is tapping her fingers and all you can see is her legs hands and the apples
Sum1, the scene you wrote about is the loading screen. The apples reflect the ammount of the program already loaded. Wait until all the apples get to full size to begin playing!
Thanks for the attention!
I liked it : )
The Artist needs to do a Tutorial on how to draw like him.
NOW.
The controls were pretty difficult, specifically the jumping part. Even little gaps take a bit of time, larger gaps are close to impossible. A running jump addition would be good.
I thought this game was excellent! Even though i didn't quite understand the plot that didn't matter!
Also what is this type of game called as i have played another game in this sort of style, which is called COMA! i love this type of game so if anyone knows of anymore or knows what they are called then i would like to know so i can look up more of them!
thnx
xxx
Would be great if she moved faster, like you'd expect her to with those long legs and it'd make the gameplay smoother.
go to the the graveyard's right and there's a man asking to find his wife. I don't know who he is, but is supsect she's a graveyard name. i just don't have closure jumping
To everyone complaining about the controls:
They irritated me too, until I figured out that spacebar makes you run
The controls were actually quite smooth for me.
And I think the biggest deciding factor for the good or bad ending is rescuing the "monster".
*SPOILERS*
In-depth analysis of the Mrs. Nice Guy ending:
First of all, let me just say that this entire game was all set in her mind.
I got Mrs. Nice Guy even though I smashed the pumpkins and got revenge. I guess it's cuz I did everything else nicely and rescued the "monster".
Overall, I made Dolly caring but not willing to put up with guitar-boy's bullshit. She made a mistake with the pumpkins, but sometimes you hurt others without meaning to, simply by not treading carefully enough...
I think this game is about depression and self-destruction. By helping others you can become more than the flaws that you think encompass you and the emptiness that does. But if you hurt others... it can only hurt you.
The music really contributes to her spiraling depression. At first you think it's just quirky and kind of sad, but as you progress through the game, you begin to think that perhaps there's a deeper meaning to it, that this constant oppressive detachment that is being conveyed is intentional.
There are also little hints of death throughout the game, the most prominent being when the girl in the house with the tunnel (Dolly's sister?) receives her lost item and says, "You'll go to heaven when you die."
Throwing the apples symbolizes Dolly thinking about jumping over the cliff herself. She never actually throws them, just think about it (which is why she was still holding them when she walks away from the edge).
But every time she takes an apple off, it hurts the tree. Perhaps this means that every time a thought like that goes through someone's mind, it damages them, even if they don't act on it.
Despite the fact that Dolly doesn't throw the apples, she never eats them, either. This means that she does not experience what those apple have to offer.
In the final run-through, Dolly is getting to the point that she will actually commit suicide. This is shown when the guy who had been on the roof says something like, "See what you've done?" He's referring to the rain. It symbolizes her depression, the bad thoughts and cold emptiness dragging her down.
But by helping the "monster", Dolly realizes that she shouldn't just jump over the cliff the way she's been thinking of doing the whole game. So instead she takes a bite of one of the apples that she's been wasting. She finally sees that there's more to life, and that her good actions have a meaning to them.
At this point, the music further supports the story by changing to a more hopeful tune.
All her friends--or at the very least, companions--are leaving, but they blow open a way for her to get back down and escape from the isolation she built herself.
Then, while she is in her boat and drifting towards an uncertain future, she looks at the seeds that she has gotten from the apple. She realizes that from this experience, she can grow a tree, or even four trees.
Life doesn't have to be wonderful, but it doesn't have to be hopeless, either.
You just have to take a bite.
*is still holding them when she walks away from the edge
I checked that over for at least twenty minutes, and of course that still happens.
Are you supposed to be able to make that jump across that gap that otherwise leads you down to a dead end where you can't jump up because it's too high, the jump past the 2nd house?
Because it's physically impossible to make it, it's too far by about 3 pixels. You can't stand on the edge and jump and you can't get enough speed to run because you always fall off the edge into the gap.
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