Rastamobil
Rastamobil is a third creation of guys behind “Porwany Samolot” / “Hijacked Airplane” that is a fun game about airplane, which actually takes place in a … real bus, and “Czarny Lotos” / “Black Lotus”, which was surely one of the best avatar games I’ve played, which was sadly available for only a very short time period (a few days iirc?) and in Polish only.
Staying true to their style, if I were to put Rastamobil in a category it would be a “fun” one as these guys definitely have a great sense of humour and that humour is a prevailing asset of their games (and particularly this one). I am as far as possible from being a member of rasta culture, but that was not an issue at all for embracing the theme and enjoying it to the fullest.
One of the parts of this game it is the most known for is its original introduction. I very much enjoyed ours and after the game owners told us that one of the key elements of their introduction broke the other day and they could afford only a scuffed one for us and they gave us a 25% discount for that. I take such “scuffed” intro any day of the week! One of the parts of the introduction that was used for some groups, but is unfortunately no longer a part of it (I would not spoil it otherwise) was a real police car that was unexpectedly showing up when entering the game’s premise causing a lot of surprise and an unexpected action! I remember that when we talked with owners for too long we unexpectedly found ourselves late to the next one and they were kind enough to give us a ride in that police car to the next game that saved our day – that was definitely something!
It is definitely not a “one trick pony” game i.e. just being a humorous – it has a very nice gameplay too. There is plenty of varied puzzles to solve placed in an original setting (that you may have an idea for judging by the name). There is a clear mission to fulfill, all puzzles fit very well to the theme and there is a nice way for denoting progression. Speedrunning teams may try to leverage an option of solving a lot of puzzles in parallel, but there is really no need to as there’s enough time for everybody to see everything.
Unfortunately, despite many attempts of convincing these guys to make that game available in English, it is unlikely to become such. It is true that humour of this game in many parts relies on Polish “memeology” that could be understood by Polish players only and owners do not feel confident in hosting the game in English too and them being confident in their roles plays an important part too and they think this game in English would not meet the acceptable minimum quality bar, hence they prefer to not offer it at all. Nevertheless, as Heiner’s example shows, if you are “lucky” you can play this game in English and still enjoy it very much! Maybe owners are just too harsh on themselves and there is some light in the tunnel then?
