I don't think I could describe Smile For Me, the sweet new escape game by Japanese designer Robamimi, any better than the game does itself: "This is escape game, but have not to escape. Sorry, you die please. You become a departed, and change to the smile the sorrowing bereaved." Says it all, don't you think?
Okay, okay, maybe not. To translate: in Smile For Me, you are a recently deceased person who, seeing the tears of a grieving loved one, seeks to bring joy to that individual. But how, exactly, are you going to accomplish that? In your new home, a silvery room high in the sky, you'll have to solve puzzles and use the heavenly tools at your disposal to bring a moment of happiness to your bereaved beloved. Awww.
I liked Smile For Me a lot. It's earnestly and unabashedly sentimental—which, in a world that at times seems to look down upon genuine emotion, is actually really refreshing. The puzzles are for the most part challenging without becoming overwhelming, though I did come across a few "seriously? you expected me to do that?" moments of eyebrow-raising "logic." Happily, a hint system is in place to bring you through those occasional bumps in the road. You'll also need to do a little math, so be prepared to pull out your calculator. Your reward for completing Smile For Me is a one of the nicest endings I've seen in an escape-the-room game, sweet and a little sad. You might find yourself genuinely moved.
The game is very well-crafted, with the excellent graphics we've come to expect from Robamimi as well as a mellow, melodic soundtrack. A save feature is provided, and a square mute button can be located above the inventory. Although the game is not heavy on pixel-hunting, be sure to check each and every clickable location (there are quite a few of them); if at some point you seem to be missing an important item from your inventory, rechecking previously visited areas will probably help. Also, on the game's title screen (after it has loaded), be sure to click "English" before you press "Play."
If you're in the mood to kill monsters and blow things up with comically oversized weaponry, this is not the game for you. If, however, you feel like you might like a breath of fresh air, a few minutes of unadorned sincerity to cleanse your palate (and a darn good escape game to boot), then click on the link below. It'll definitely make you smile.
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
Smile For Me Walkthrough
Don't forget to click English unless you can read Japanese!
You are about to become very busy for a dead person.
You should now be facing an odd-shaped bookcase that contains the following: four colored books, five brown books with unique symbols (teardrop, heart, triangle, diamond, and pentagon), and four decorative boxes with similar symbols (heart, triangle, diamond, and pentagon).
On the bottom shelf of the bookcase look for a book that has a symbol like a teardrop. Open the book. Examine the picture and the symbols underneath. Notice that the arrow goes both ways.
On the next shelf up find the book with a diamond on the cover and open it. Read the directions and make a note of 2 = 28 or 29.
On the same shelf as the diamond book find the book with a heart on the cover. Read the book. 50,000 is a lot of balloons!
Pick up the diamond box on the bottom row and click on the corner to turn it over. Note 7 x 8.
Turn left. Examine the bulletin board closely. Back out.
Turn left twice until you come to a table with a laptop on it. Click on the trashcan and take what's in it (a crank). Back out.
Turn right. Attach the crank to the left side of the machine. The code for turning the cranks was in the teardrop book. First turn the cranks in this order: Left, Right, Left, Right, Right, Left. Take the capsule and open it. You now have a green fuse. Now turn the cranks in the reverse order: Left, Right, Right, Left, Right, Left. Take the capsule and open it. You now have a triangular key.
Turn left. Click on the laptop for a close-up and take the object sitting on the keyboard. You now have a "pencil". Click on the "pencil" to open it. You now have a red fuse. Back out.
Now click on the box next to the laptop. There are seven diamond shaped buttons in a row starting with a red one. These buttons represent days of the week starting with Sunday (red). Using the directions from the diamond book click in the following order: the "Tuesday" button (3rd from the left), the "Friday" button (2nd from the right) and the "Sunday" button (the red button on the far left). Screenshot. You now have an orange fuse. Whew! Being dead is hard work! Back out.
Go back to the bookcase and open the triangle book with the triangle key. Look, it's a grid that exactly matches the bookcase. Make note of the position of the numbers. If you fill in each row with the color of the book in that row, the grid fills up. Red, blue, green, and orange. Now the numbers 1, 2, and 3 correspond to the letters g - o - d. Go to the triangle box, type in "god" and enter. A cyan fuse!
Time to open the diamond box. 2=28 or 29 is the number of days in February (depending on the year). 7 x 8 stands for July and August, who both have 31 days. Multiply 31 x 31 and you get 961, the code for the diamond box. A yellow fuse!
Now let's open the heart box. The heart shaped note on the bulletin board shows a balloon being divided by 1234. Divide 50,000 (the number of balloons released) by 1234. What you are looking for is the remainder, which is 640. Enter 640 into the heart box and take the pentagon key. Open the box again and click on the lining on the bottom inside of the open box. A purple fuse!
Use the pentagon key to open the pentagon book. Remember the phrase "new our foot". There are 10 letters in the phrase "new our foot". Assign them numbers from 1 to 10, starting from the left (the "n" in new). Now go back to the bulletin board.
Click on the bulletin board for a close up on the pentagon shaped memos. The first memo is 10, 3, 4. Substituting letters from the numbers from the "new our foot" code that spells t - w - o. The second memo is 8, 1, 2, o - n - e. The third memo is 7, 9, 5, 6, f - o - u - r. That spells out the code for the pentagon box, 214. Back up.
Go back to the bookcase and open the pentagon box using the code 214. A blue fuse! You're in the home stretch!
Go back to the table and look at the laptop. You need a password. Notice the three petal design (trefoil) on the laptop. Go back to the bookcase. Each book has a different number of trefoils on them, from 1 to 5. Go back to the letter grid from the triangle book. Find the spaces represented by the books and number them according to the number of trefoils. That should yield the letters a - n - g - e - l. A password!
Go back to the computer and enter "angel" as the password. Click "check". Notice the fuse pattern clockwise from the top, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple. Back out.
Turn left and click on the white object for a close-up. Click on the white square below the green light. Now place the fuses in the same pattern you saw on the computer screen. Back out.
Turn right and look closely at the laptop. Click on the "fusion" button. Back out.
Turn left and close up on the white object again. Open it and take out the rainbow fuse. Back out.
Turn left and go to the top of the stairs. Throw the rainbow fuse to the sky. Done!
Awww!
Posted by: grinnyp
|
June 24, 2009 2:24 AM