Solider Diary: A solid point-and-click adventure

Action, arcade, and strategy or puzzle games are the favorites among the flash game community. Soldier Diary isn’t really any of those things. Despite having a name that looks more action-y, the game is more a simplified point and click adventure game than anything else.

Soldier Diary puts you in the shoes of a Green soldier being held captive in the Red base. You need to find your way out and get in contact with the Green base, and you do just that by.. clicking on things. You click to pick items up, interact with your surrounds, and occasionally blow things up or take out Red soldiers. Clickety click click at your own pace, as there is no time limit to complete the game — though I do feel this could have been a good addition to give it some more difficulty.

There is no action here, which is why I mentioned above that it was very much like a point and click adventure game. Sometimes it tells you what to do, and sometimes it makes you figure it out by yourself. This is what I meant by “simplified” as there is no real guessing outside of clicking all of the place in hopes you’ve found your way. Outside of three or four puzzles, Soldier Diary is very easy to figure out and progress in for those not looking to do a ton of thinking.

Tasks flow smoothly from one to the next, which surprised me most about the game. Even if you’re just progressing one screen at a time (and what happens on one screen may or may not affect the next), the tasks you need to complete on one flow well enough that you understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Aside from having to take the time to think about some of the things you have to do, you’re spending most of your time making some sort of progress instead of taking steps back.

A true point and click adventure game Soldier Diary is not, but a quick and fun romp as a soldier it is. It’s safe to say that escape attempts by prisoners of war don’t happen so quickly and explosively in real life, but you don’t really play flash games (or video games at all, for that matter) for a glimpse of real life.