The Jon Venture

Office DisOrders is an Xbox Live Indie Game released on January 19^th by Moment Games for 80 Microsoft Points. Created by former talents at Maxis, THQ, and Lucas Arts, Office DisOrders is an office simulator birthed out of the frustration of menial tasks in the corporate world. Gamers play as the young intern Jennifer, whose outlook and attitude is declining as she deals with mundane office tasks at Incomputech- making copies, checking email, and trying her best not to quit. Think of the monotony (not the comedic writing) in an episode of television’s The Office played out by blocky characters found in Katamari Damacy and you’ve got the basis of Office DisOrders.

Intended to be a satirical look at the everyday happenings of working at an office, Office DisOrders unfortunately drags on as bad as the daily cubical hell it makes fun of. I can understand how an independent studio wouldn’t have the tools for the latest in graphical rendering software, but I was willing to overlook those shortcomings in an exchange for witty humor or a deeply sarcastic undertone. What I got was pointless banter between characters, an argument involving monkeys (not actual monkeys, which would have helped), and bad imitations of Darth Vader and Dracula. Office DisOrders suffers from dated humor and graphics, even by independent game standards, which is not helped by the gameplay.

Office DisOrders takes place over a five day work week in-game, roughly translating to a just a few hours of actual gameplay. While tasks are being completed, gamers also need to eat, drink, take power naps, and use the restroom in order to keep the stress meter on the right side of the screen from filling up. If you’re wondering, there’s no epic animation when the meter fills up either, just a simple walkout. All office tasks and personal activities are completed through dialogue bubbles and a simple interface, but the game’s slow pacing makes everything feel like a chore. As much as I would love to recommend this game, even for the current price of a wristband for your Xbox Live avatar to wear, Office DisOrders could have used a bit more polish before hitting the marketplace. Maybe someone missed a memo.