___. .___ _ ___. / _| | \ / \ / ._| \ \ | o_/ | | | |_. .\ \ | | | o | | | | The |___/ociety for the |_|romotion of |_|_|dventure \___|ames. ISSUE # 15 Edited by Magnus Olsson (zebulon SP@G pobox.com) October 11, 1998. SPAG Website: http://welcome.to/spag SPAG supports the 1998 IF Competition (http://www.ifcompetition.org) SPAG #15 is copyright (c) 1998 by Magnus Olsson. Authors of reviews retain the rights to their contributions. All email addresses are spamblocked -- replace the name of our magazine with the traditional 'at' sign. REVIEWS IN THIS ISSUE ----------------------------------------------------- The Awakening BJ Drifter Bloodline Enchanter Firebird Knight Orc A Mind Forever Voyaging Saied Sorcerer Spellbreaker There's a Hole In Your Bucket EDITORIAL------------------------------------------------------------------ OK, you don't have to tell me: it's been a long time since the last issue, partly because of the intervening summer, of course, but I'd actually planned to release it a whole month ago, in early September. Unlike earlier, you won't have to listen to any pathetic excuses from me this time: I've actually got an explanation. The problem is only that I'm not at liberty to tell you everything yet, so the following may sound slightly less than believable. It is the truth, though. As I wrote above, I had planned to release this issue in early September, so I set a deadline in late August. However, some very interesting contributions had a string attached: I had to promise not to publish them until given permission. The problem was only that the permission was delayed, and delayed, and delayed... I've still not received the go-ahead. Since I feel that the time for a new issue is long overdue, I've decided to drop the secret contributions from this issue, and publish now, before angry mobs of torch-bearing subscribers start turning up at my door. So, here it is, a somewhat slimmed-down SPAG 15. I still intend to publish the dropped material, as soon as I'm allowed to do so. I'm sorry I can't say anything about when this will be - it could be next week or next year. Keep your fingers crossed. In the meantime, here's a number of excellent reviews of both old and new games. Enjoy! NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The entries in the 1998 IF Competition have been released, and voting is underway. For more details (and instructions on how to download the games), see the official competition site at http://www.ifcompetition.org The games can also be downloaded from ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/competition98 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= In addition to the "big" Competition, a number of mini- and micro-competitions have been held on the newsgroups this year. More details, and all the participating games, are available from ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/mini-comps/. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There is now a new official SPAG web site (the old one, at afn.org, was partially lost in a disk crash this spring). The URL is http://welcome.to/spag Thanks to Joe DeRouen at Sparkynet for donating the web space! SUBMISSION POLICY ---------------------------------------------------------- SPAG is a non-paying fanzine specializing in reviews of text adventure games, a.k.a. Interactive Fiction. This includes the classic Infocom games and similar games, but also some graphic adventures where the primary player-game communication is text based. Authors retain the rights to use their reviews in other contexts. We accept submissions that have been previously published elsewhere, although original reviews are preferred. At the moment, we are reluctant to accept any more reviews of Infocom games (though exceptions happen). KEY TO SCORES AND REVIEWS---------------------------------------------------- Consider the following review header: NAME: Cutthroats AUTHOR: Infocom EMAIL: ??? DATE: September 1984 PARSER: Infocom Standard SUPPORTS: Infocom ports AVAILABILITY: LTOI 2 URL: Not available. When submitting reviews: Try to fill in as much of this info as you can. Also, scores are still desired along with the reviews, so send those along. The scores will be used in the ratings section. Authors may not rate or review their own games. More elaborate descriptions of the rating and scoring systems may be found in the FAQ and in issue #9 of SPAG, which should be available at: ftp://ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive/magazines/SPAG/ and at http://welcome.to/spag REVIEWS 1: NEW GAMES ----------------------------------------------------- From: Chantikell SP@G aol.com NAME: The Awakening AUTHOR: Dennis Matheson E-MAIL: Dennis_Matheson SP@G compuserve.com DATE: 1998 PARSER: Inform SUPPORTS: all Inform ports AVAILABILITY: Freeware (GMD) URL: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/infocom/awaken.z5 VERSION: Release 1 Considering that "The Awakening" by Dennis Matheson is a rather small game, I was pleasently surprised by both plot and atmosphere of the game. The game starts out with the player finding himself in an old, decaying churchyard during a thunderstorm, not knowing how he came there nor who he is. But both the fact that he's originally located in an earth pit and the name of the adventure lead up to some suspicions... Besides, the author mentions to have been inspired by the works of Lovecraft, so for me the setting of the game was, if not outright obviously, so at least in all probability, part of the Lovecraftian Universe, with strange and malovelent forces at work. During the course of the game I found this to be true, and by and by learnt more about my surroundings, and the goal I had to achieve, until I was able to defy these forces and win "freedom". The atmosphere, especially during the first part of the game, is quite dense. Especially, once I was inside the church, I felt like an intruder, at a place where some tradegy had already occured, trying to make sense of the remnants. But the end of the game came as something of an anti-climax to me: I had no problems to win against my antagonist, and no final explanation was offered to fill a few gaps I had noticed, just a plain ***You have won*** message. But, as I said before, "The Awakening" is a short piece of interactive fiction, and therefore due to lack some fleshing out that a bigger game perhaps would have had. For its length it's really a fine example of the art, capturing in its story, and convincing in its atmosphere. I've totally forgotten to mention the technical side, and that's probably because I found no flaws there, no bugs or parser problems, which of course heightened the pleasure of playing "The Awakening". =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Jarvist Frost (BOBFROST SP@G compuserve.com) NAME: Bloodline, An Interactive Coming-of-age AUTHOR: Liza Daly E-MAIL: gecko SP@G retina.net DATE: 1998 PARSER: Slightly below Inform Standard SUPPORTS: Z code 5 interpreters AVAILABILITY: Freeware (GMD) URL: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/mini-comps/games/bloodline.z5 VERSION: Release 1 Bloodline is a game based abound its NPC's. The entire game takes place in the basement of a friend's house. You (female) are playing a board game called bloodline which involves chasing after the fortune mentioned in a will, battling with all the other relatives. This appears to have been a way of fulfilling the criteria for the mini comp rather than a central game piece. You are playing against the Boy of Your Dreams (tm) and the ultimate decision is to either use your special card and win the game or let the boy beat you. Your decision, either way, ends the game. There is no movement and interaction with the NPC's is kept to a bare minimum (you're too distracted by the boy's eyes to even think of talking to him). I thought that the TV was an excellent touch, the slasher movies caused me to come back to the game time after time. If a Crinkly were to review this then they would complain about the blunt humour, absence of puzzles, obsession with the boy etc. As a teenager I found this to be a fun short piece of IF. My only problems with this game was the way that I had to be female and a few weird parser problems cropped up. In particular I liked the introduction, this is the 'reading of the rules' (essential for all board games). After reading the premise.txt I was expecting a serious game and the introduction confused me for a moment until I realised it was a 'tongue in {his} cheek' game. This game captures the style of teenage sleep overs, right down to the passing of notes. As an example of a parser problem I give you this: >examine randy's game piece I only understood you as far as wanting to examine Randy's game piece. Weird or what? There is no movement and no real manipulation of items. The game will automatically end in 25 moves if you can't reach a decision. The game would generally be solved in 20 moves or under. There are no real actions that you can do, you just have to admire the scenery until you have to make the Ultimate Decision on which your future teenage happiness is based. Apart from examining and reading objects, there is nothing much that you can do. The ending that would appear to bring the most satisfaction to the girl that you are playing seems to give a rather un-feminist view of live, you have to let the male win so that he likes you. All in all, this game was a fun five minute piece of vagely interactive fiction. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NAME: Firebird AUTHOR: Bonnie Montgomery E-MAIL: firebird SP@G pobox.com DATE: 1998 PARSER: TADS standard SUPPORTS: TADS interpreters AVAILABILITY: Freeware (GMD) URL: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/tads/firebird.gam VERSION: Release 1.0 PLOT: Charming, appropriately fairy-tale (1.4) ATMOSPHERE: Appropriate (1.3) WRITING: Strong, often amusing (1.6) GAMEPLAY: Uneven at times (1.1) PUZZLES: Not too hard, some a bit random (1.2) CHARACTERS: Amusing (1.4) MISC: Whimsical and very playable (1.5) OVERALL: 6.9 Some genres of literature have become common stomping grounds for IF, but fairy tales are not among them: the dearth of children's stories in the IF library means that Firebird attempts something distinctly new, and the Russian themes make it all the more unique. Though many traditionally fairy-tale tropes are present, including evil wizards, captured princesses, and a series of marriages at the end, the author gives the work more than enough humor and creativity to carry it off successfully. For what it's worth, you're the third son of a tsar, and you've been chosen to bag the Firebird of the title, which has been stealing the golden fruit from your father's orchard. Once you do catch the bird, you get sent on a Quest to defeat the Evil Nasty Guy, overcoming scary obstacles along the way and even getting Useful Social Guidance as well, namely that you should be kind to animals. (Moreover, everything seems to come in sets of three, a common number--along with seven--in these stories.) Russian folk tales are not, it appears, drastically different from those of Western Europe, such as the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, certain not in their hallmarks. But there is also plenty of humor along with the stock scenes and characters, fortunately: a series of dimwitted guards, even if repetitive (you defeat all of them with the same ploy), is sufficiently comic to make the idea feel fresh. There is plenty of absurdity as well: you get help from an army of Japanese cooks at one point, who attack with pepper grinders (really), and kissing a frog turns it into...an axe murderer. The humorous bits and the small size of the game keep the game moving along despite the more time-worn elements. The authenticity of the references to actual Russian stories cannot be verified, but judging from the bibliography and the footnotes sprinkled here and there, the author seems to have done plenty of homework along the way, which helps reduce the sense that this is a generic fairy tale. At one point, you encounter two peasants swapping jokes which, somehow, feel just bizarre enough to be real Russian jokes; at another, you encounter "three times nine" knights, which, as the author explains, really means, in Russian folk tale parlance, 27. There is more than enough of this sort of thing to keep the story feeling fresh, though it's more the author's wit than the stories themselves that gives the game its appeal. (My favorite reference of all, actually, was the Firebird's tendency to "whistle the greatest hits of Stravinsky.") My one real objection is that women are more often than not reduced to helpless playthings or decorative objects, admittedly more the fault of the genre (and, maybe, the culture that inspired the story) than the author but still a mite irritating. (And ironic, since the author is one of very few women currently writing IF.) As noted, the puzzles are straightforward enough that they shouldn't slow the player down much, though there are some slightly unfair bits--notably, having to wait around for 15-20 turns before someone comes along and drops an item that turns out to be useful later on. There are some clues to the possibility of that event, but they're not particularly strong. There are some other bugs, but not many, and they don't impede the game all that much, and the end of the story is appropriately climactic and easy to figure out. Moreover, even the few moments where puzzle solutions are not entirely obvious are decipherable on fairy-tale terms; since the genre demands some suspension of logic anyway, thinking in fairy-story mode is usually the best way to move things along; though one solution might be better suggested by the context in that respect, it's certainly not unfair. The relative ease of the puzzles also makes this an appealing possibility for younger players, though some of the references--such as the baba yaga--might require explanation. The real fly in the ointment is a large maze; it doesn't seem like the game would lose much if it were cut down or eliminated. The writing is excellent, though there's rather a lot of it at certain key points, often several screens' worth, and several descriptions are a bit on the skimpy side--though most locales are standard enough that they don't need extensive writing to come across. Appropriately for the story and the age group, the writing gives more attention to plot than to drawn-out description: events and action get long chunks of text, not images. Still, it's worth noting that the author rarely slips into fairy-tale excess--not every woman is breathtakingly beautiful, not every obstacle is horribly dangerous, etc.--though one occasionally wishes for more details than the author provides. Moreover, as with most good fairy tales, the scale starts small and then builds--you start out doing menial tasks for your father--so that, when the author does lay on superlatives, they don't feel tired. Though the plot won't exactly throw anyone for a loop, Firebird is a quick, enjoyable game that might herald something new, namely IF grounded in a specific cultural tradition; Sound of One Hand Clapping and Pesach Adventure are the only other examples I can think of. If Firebird encouraged more research into backgrounds of games, and more innovative settings, it might lead to more creative games, never a bad thing. In its own right, it's a worthy effort. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: "Paul O'Brian" NAME: Firebird AUTHOR: Bonnie Montgomery EMAIL: bkm SP@G pobox.com DATE: March 1998 PARSER: TADS standard SUPPORTS: TADS ports AVAILABILITY: Freeware/Charityware (GMD) URL: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/tads/firebird.gam VERSION: 1.0 When Def Leppard's "Pyromania" album came out in 1983, it was a good album and a big hit, but it never made it to #1 on the American charts. Why? Because Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was perched there; for months the Def Leppard album sat at #2, then sank, never reaching the top spot. What does this have to do with IF? Hold your horses, I'm getting to that. In the spring of 1998, Bonnie Montgomery suffered a similar fate -- she put out an excellent game which never got the recognition it deserved, because it was overshadowed by a concurrent release, Andrew Plotkin's masterful "Spider and Web." (Hmmm, perhaps this comparison isn't so good after all. I'm not sure how much Plotkin wants to be the Michael Jackson of IF, let alone how thrilled Montgomery is to be called its Def Leppard. Plus, now I've outed myself as a fan of 80s heavy metal, not to mention an incurable parenthetical rambler. I should probably just delete this whole first paragraph, but knowing my Piers Anthony-like inability to erase anything I've written, I probably won't. Magnus, I leave it up to you.) This review is meant to partly make up for the unwarranted neglect "Firebird" has suffered. The game is cleverly written and well-coded, with a number of design and puzzle strengths as well. Not only that, it includes the command "WEAR THE CLAW"! How could I resist anything that makes reference (though probably not consciously) to my own one-game contribution to the world of IF? In fact, oddly enough, "Firebird" has several resemblances to "Wearing the Claw": both feature a circular wall with a plaque mounted upon it, each of which has "hints of honey" inside, and both games have a section where the parser prevents travel for three attempts. Now, of course I'm not suggesting that "Wearing the Claw" was somehow the inspiration for "Firebird" -- I doubt Ms. Montgomery has even played my game -- but I did find it interesting that our games had so many specifics in common. I'm inclined to think that these two games, taken together with some others such as Infocom's "Arthur" and Whizzard's "Lesson of the Tortoise", are taking steps towards creating a basic vocabulary of puzzles and devices for folk-tale-oriented IF. Whether or not this is the case, "Firebird" stands on its own as a remarkable piece of interactive fiction in its own right. Its clear, elegant prose is a pleasure to read, and in spots becomes quite clever indeed. For example, early on in the game our hero Ivan must pass by a gaggle of overeager female admirers wearing beeswax lipstick (to which Ivan is allergic). The women are described thus: "They're swarming everywhere, their constant chattering an irritating drone to your ears." However, if Ivan fails to pass, the death message says "You are swarmed by these eager noble honeys. Much as you feared, their lipstick-tainted kisses cause hives to cover the entire surface of your skin. A severe allergic reaction ensues and you succumb." In a few quick sentences, Montgomery manages to work in "swarm" "drone" "hive", and "honey"; death by allergy has never been described with such wordplay and wit! The combination of humor and action is characteristic of "Firebird," and gives it a lighthearted tone which works quite well. Though the deeper structure of the game has a number of fairly serious elements, Montgomery finds a way to inject humor into most of the scenes, sometimes spilling over into outright hilarity. That this mix of humor and action creates balance rather than confusion is a testament to Montgomery's writing skills. As strong as the writing is, the design is just as good. The game provides multiple solutions to many of the puzzles, solutions which often are so well thought-out in themselves that it's rewarding to play through the puzzle each way, just to see how imaginatively the game approaches the problems. "Firebird" is flexible enough to handle lots of different kinds of thinking, and there were many times when I thought I'd made a game-killing mistake and later found out that although I had created a problem for myself, the game provided for a way out of it as well. Moreover, when critical junctions do come up, the game gently suggests that you think about "praying to save your soul." If you acquiesce to this suggestion, the interpreter's "save" function is invoked, and you now have a bookmark just behind the critical point. There is only one place in which Montgomery's very player-friendly design approach breaks down, which is the inclusion of a fairly large, irritating maze. The maze, as far as I could determine, is of the bad old variety to which there is no alternative but slow, tedious mapping. Nonetheless, even if you hate mazes, it's worth it to slog through this one, just because the last part of the game is so rewarding. "Firebird" has several excellent climactic scenes (which one you see depends on what you've done up to that point) and it handles multiple endings in a number of highly creative ways. Finally, in addition to the big-picture factors, "Firebird" includes a number of nicely done, subtle touches. For instance, the author (who is married to Unkuulian implementor Chris Nebel) manages to sneak in a very sly reference to that series by naming a nearby tavern "The Cheese and Pig Inn." Neat coding effects abound as well; at one point Ivan is given a list of items he'll need in the next portion of the story. The initial contents of this list vary depending on what Ivan is holding when he receives it, and as he collects the items necessary, the corresponding list items are checked. Another example of clever coding is that the game not only frequently sends Ivan tumbling to the ground, but it counts the number of falls he's taken, and responds accordingly: "Just a reminder, this is the third time today that you and the ground have had an abrupt meeting." Puzzles are also soundly executed: not too difficult, well-clued, and strategically dispersed to keep the narrative at a steady pace. At this writing, the game still has several bugs, one or two of which can in fact render the game unwinnable. I have forwarded these bugs to the author, and she assures me that they will be fixed in the next release. If version 1.0 of "Firebird" was this good, it will be even better when all the niggling problems are repaired. "Firebird" proves beyond a doubt that the intersection between folk tale and IF is a fertile one. At the risk of making an overreaching generalization, I would contend that folk tales often tend to have a strong sense of structure, a distinct "best" ending, somewhat "flat" characters who mainly serve as ciphers for the plot, and frequent appearances by riddles or somewhat artificial puzzles, all of which are perfect for adaptation into conventional-form IF. The strengths of interactive fiction, on the other hand, include exploration of exotic landscapes, a strong sense of score/progress, and participation in structured narratives, factors which can combine to give us new ways to experience very ancient stories. What's more, the global audience of interactive fiction means that no matter in what tradition an IF folk tale is written, it will serve to teach at least some of its players about cultures outside their own. Here's hoping that others follow in the trail that "Firebird" has blazed. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Jarvist Frost (BOBFROST SP@G compuserve.com) NAME: Saied AUTHOR: Robb Sherwin E-MAIL: robb_sherwin SP@G juno.com DATE: 6/8/98 PARSER: Slightly below Inform Standard SUPPORTS: ZCODE interpreters AVAILABILITY: Freeware (GMD) URL: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/mini-comps/chicken.zip VERSION: Release 1 { Editor's note: this was one of the entries of the 1998 Chicken Comp (see the NEWS section above), hence the reference to chickens crossing the road. The file chicken.zip contains not only this game, but the other entries as well. } In this game you play the role of the spurned lover (male). Your Ex has left you for someone else 18 months ago (while you were standing there at 3am waiting for her in the freezing cold). Now, she has phoned you and asked you to come round and comfort her since she has just been arguing with her new lover, your replacement. You start this game in your bed, and have to get up and decide whether you are going to respond to your Ex's call for help. This game has more bugs than a tropical swamp. Instead of typing 'stand' or 'get out of bed' you have to type 'pump it up' to get out of bed. The direction of your door (the only exit from your apartment) is not actually mentioned in the room description and so you have to guess wildly by typing in directions at random until you realise that it is towards the east. This game hardly recognises any of the items mentioned in the room description. The main way that the story progresses is through people phoning you up. After you finely decide to get out of bed and exit the house you find yourself faced with a decision (which will, either way, end the game). Should you go to your Ex lover's house you should you cross to the other Saied to see your close (female) friend? This game had some _very_ infuriating parser problems. The two items (of which only 1 can be picked up) served no purpose other than to be looked at. Only the second of the 2 locations contains any information about the exits from it. The telephone calls are hard wired in, where ether you are, you still get the telephone calls (which occur at 'so many turns'). >From the last two paragraphs of complaints you would expect the writing to be terrible and the game to be boring, frustrating and excessively hard to understand. It wasn't. The writing was of a very high standard throughout and both endings seemed very fitting, in particular I liked the joke about why the chicken crossed the road (and no it isn't "to get to the other side"(TM) but it is something similar). As a whole, this game was good fun and I would heartily recommend it to anyone with experience with bad parsers (i.e. all you Speccy Ifers out there). Once the parser bugs have been navigated, this game turns into a fun, short game and I found it well worth the download time. I will certainly look forward to the 1998 i.f. competition entry from Robb Sherwin. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Audrey De Lisle , NAME: There's a Hole In Your Bucket AUTHOR: Karen Tyers EMAIL: DATE: 1998 PARSER: PAW (Professional Adventure Writer) SUPPORTS: Spectrum and emulators AVAILABILITY: Adventure Workshop, 36 Grasmere Road, Royton, Oldham, Lancs, OL2 6SR, England Also: Adventure Probe Magazine, 52 Burford Road, Liverpool, L16 6AQ, England Other games may be had for C64 and Amiga, inquire of author. Price: A small fee for postage and handling to the Workshop or an optional donation to Adventure Probe magazine if emailed by Karen. Adventure Probe is a small, hand assembled magazine published by Karen Tyers. It contains reviews, hints and a walk-through each month. Most of the games are for the C64 or Amiga, but some are pc. Its listed price is two pounds sterling (in England). There is no provision for foreign money. The February issue has 50 pages, 6"x 8.5". For those in UK, there is a telephone help line and solutions can be downloaded. BUCKET is a charming small game based on a folk song, "I've Got A Hole In My Bucket, Dear Liza". The player first learns that his wife, Liza, wants some water to wash the windows and there is none. During his search for a water source and a bucket, he finds the duck pond is empty and the ducks are miserable. Blossom, the sow, is most unco-operative and the chickens are hungry. By frequent use of the LOOK command coupled with BEHIND, IN, or UNDER, the player's search is rewarded with objects leading to success in achieving this goal. Besides the farm area, there is a five room house. Liza does not contribute much, but is an npc. The only HELP is a reminder to follow the words in the song. Emulators: the Lunter Z80 emulator (registered) is used by the author with Win 95 and she reports that it works fine. OTOH, I use DOS and found that the Lunter emulator (shareware) did not work well with the pentium/60MHz, but does work well with a 486/30MHz. I downloaded the other pc emulator and it does work with the pentium, but not .z80 files. Of course, that may just be my pentium. I was playing with the PAW .z80 file and not with a .sna file. The author now has a proper .sna file ready. At some future time, she hopes to have pc versions written with Inform or TADS. The song: There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza. There's a hole im my bucket, dear Liza. Well, mend it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry. Well, mend it dear Henry, mend it. With what shall I mend it, dear Liza? (etc). With some straw, dear Henry (etc) But the straw is too long, dear Liza, (etc) Well, cut it, dear Henry (etc) With what shall I cut it, dear Liza? (etc) With an axe, dear Henry (etc) But the axe is too blunt, dear Liza (etc) Well, sharpen it, dear Henry (etc) With what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza? (etc) With a stone, dear Henry (etc) But the stone is too dry, dear Liza (etc) Well, wet it, dear Henry (etc) With what shall I wet it, dear Liza? (etc) Try water, dear Henry (etc) In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza? (etc) In a bucket, dear Henry (etc) I prefer not to rate games. I enjoyed playing this one or would not offer a review. There were two 'hunt the verb' problems; one easily resolved, but the other could be a sticker. However, this could be a difference in culture, so Americans might have more trouble than others. I am not sure younger players with no experience with C64, RS Color Computers, Spectrum, etc, would be interested. These games do not resemble MYST, et al, but are great for older players. REVIEWS 2: OLD GAMES ----------------------------------------------------- From: Gerhard Peterz (peterz SP@G mags.net) NAME: A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV) Author:Steve Meretzky EMAIL:???? DATE: 1985 PARSER: Infocom Standard SUPPORTS: Infocom Ports AVAILABILITY: LTOI 2, MSTRPCS. URL:????? SUPPORTS:Infocom ports PUZZLES: Good, ranging from easy to hard. CHARACTERS: Great. ATMOSPHERE: Very well done. DIFFICULTY: Medium - Hard You are PRISM. A super computer able to "live" in simulations in the future. RIght now, the world were you were created is slowly being pushed into chaos. Schools are becoming violent. Suicides are up. Overpopulation and food shortage threaten the world. A Senator Richard Ryder has proposed a plan that everyone is willing to follow. But there is one thing that stands between the plan's finishing stage. You. It is your mission to simulate the future of the plan and hurl yourself far into the future. A land of wonders and peace, or one of cruelty and death? Only you can decide if the plan shall fall through. Overall, AMFV is a great game. The plot is really intriguing and Rockville, the city that the simulations take place, is a vast area of exploration throughout the time periods. The writing is good quality and excellent. It draws you into the game. The best points of this game are: 1) The writing is just superb. 2) The ability to visit and compare the same city in 10 year intervals. 3) The amount to explore and see. A few weak points: 1) The library feature doesn't really need to be used. 2) You have to wait a bit, but sleep mode takes care of most of the time. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Second April NAME: Enchanter AUTHOR: Marc Blank E-MAIL: Beats me DATE: 1983 PARSER: Infocom Standard SUPPORTS: Infocom ports AVAILABILITY: Commercial URL: N/A VERSION: Release 29 Enchanter, as most Infocom fans know, is the first in a fantasy series intended to complement the Zork trilogy, a set of games where success depends both on wits and on judicious use of magic. (By implication, the adventurer in the Zork trilogy is a sort of grunt by contrast, using combat skills as opposed to spell-casting, which isn't really true--but the blend of the two in Beyond Zork lends credence to the idea that it was supposed to be a resolution to both trilogies.) The player's use of magic in this series is based on a simple system of copying spells into a book and then memorizing the spell each time it is cast, an approach that has earned much criticism over the years but which I still enjoy and find realistic (well, realistic on fantasy-game terms, anyway). It feels more natural to have known spells in a book than floating around in one's head constantly, somehow, even though it can become a form of inventory management. Part of the fun of this magic system, moreover, is the humor value inherent in casting certain spells on inappropriate objects (and the funny responses Infocom provided, of course). Anyway, the plot of Enchanter is a fairly standard save-the-world deal, wherein you, the novice enchanter, are sent into Krill's castle because your powers are minimal enough that he won't bother to get rid of you. (Why it wouldn't be worth his while to smush someone prowling around his castle isn't wholly clear to me, but oh well.) The layout of the plot is rather "wide," in design parlance, meaning that almost the entire territory and most of the puzzles are available early in the game; it's up to you to figure out what can be solved at any given time. Wide games can be irritating if the puzzles must be solved in one particular order, but 'tisn't so in "Enchanter", fortunately; quite a few of the puzzles are solvable very near the beginning of the game. The puzzles themselves are mostly good, and not especially difficult, with one exception--one vital action is without motivation and relies on a somewhat obscure hint. There is another instance of a verb I didn't expect the game to recognize and spent hours upon hours devising alternative solutions to the puzzle--and no, my copy was not pirated; I just didn't think to look at the verb list, I guess. There are a few other mildly unfair elements--the effects of a spell expire after a small number of moves, but there's no way of knowing that (and no sign when it happens) and it might seem at first like that spell doesn't have the desired effect. Another puzzle, while the idea is fairly obvious, requires considerable trial and error for success--and there are some incorrect solutions, for which the game gives a fairly obvious warning. As an introduction to the use of magic in puzzles, Enchanter succeeds admirably; you use almost all of your spells at least once, often in creative ways. If there's a weakness here, it's that virtually everything you do turns on magic; whereas the other two installments in the series called for more puzzle-solving and less trying spells, Enchanter is largely solvable by pulling out a spell for every occasion. It's not a major drawback, but it's not optimal either. Enchanter's plot, as noted, is not especially innovative, and is beset by contradictions, primary among them that Krill would not bother to notice when you acquire the means to defeat him (and that said means is sitting around in his own castle). That said, though, the atmosphere and the setting are quite well done--the abandoned village, the view of the castle from the Lonely Mountain, and the spread of the effect of Krill's spell, characterized thus: "Everything you see is gray and lifeless, as though covered with a veil of ash. Sound is muted and there is a faint acrid odor." Room descriptions change as well as the spell spreads, deteriorating from reasonably tidy abandoned castle to something altogether more sinister; it reminded me of the Nothing from Neverending Story. The effect is to lend some urgency to the plot, even though the time allotted to accomplish the mission is far more than needed, and to make the game something more than a collection of puzzles. There is humor as well, though: possibly the high point of the game is the arrival of the "adventurer," who seems to be you in the Zork trilogy (though it does, sadly, assume that said adventurer is male), and who plays on all the sillinesses of Zork and its genre, from illogical "wonder what happens if I do this" actions and their snappy responses ("The adventurer attempts to eat his sword. I don't think it would agree with him.") to classic vacuum-cleaner adventurer behavior--put the adventurer in a room and watch him pick everything up. In that and in a few select instances--a ludicrously overguarded door, for instance, and the arrival on the scene of the Implementors, meaning the game authors--Infocom manages to get in a few digs at the swords-and-sorcery universe, even while it invokes many of its cliches. It's interesting, though, that as a fantasy game, Enchanter plays everything much more conventionally than the Zork series did. The parody elements largely address adventure games themselves, not of the fantasy world; the evil warlock, the good sorcerer, the friendly animals are all reliable fantasy elements, and Enchanter doesn't do much with them--whereas the Zork trilogy derived its humor value from making fun of fantasy itself. The feel, moreover, is less lighthearted than the Zork trilogy (at least, less than I and II; III was a departure in that respect); the adventurer's pratfalls aside, the onset of the "veil of ash" and the way it takes over the game has a sinister quality that doesn't fit well with the humorous aspect. Krill's sidekicks are more menacing than any enemies from the Zork series, since they're not given foibles or funny lines (no lines at all, actually); even when the thief in Zork I was intent on killing you, it was hard to actually be afraid of him because the game took pains to play up the "gentlemanly" aspect. Here, though, when "guttural voices seem to be coming in your direction," there's a genuinely ominous feeling. An early description sets the tone: To the east, far away, can be seen a great castle at the edge of the Sea. Three turrets it has; two, old and still majestic, lie on either side of a third, cold, black as night and squat as a toad. An evil smoke seems to emanate from this tower, shrouding the others in a darkening fog. A small mountain trail leaves the peak and descends to the south into a small village far below. Obviously, there isn't a lot that's new here; the ideas and images could have come directly from Tolkien or from one of his imitators. But the writing is restrained enough that these and other atmosphere moments work well--the game builds up to your final encounter with Krill by giving more and more space to the looming-menace aspect. It's hard to explain why it works well, but it does--though you start in a bucolic natural setting, as the game progresses, your discoveries bring you closer to the heart of the castle, and the atmospheric changes are calculated to reflect that progress. Likewise, your accomplishments as an enchanter build on each other: you move from minor triumphs in the beginning to more significant or daring uses of magic later in the game. The point is that Enchanter does quite a lot with a sparely written plot and its few puzzles, and the cliched aspect doesn't prevent the story from being effective. On the whole, Enchanter works, and while there are problems--I wish the authors had rethought the insistence on hunger, thirst and sleep, for example--this is an example of one of Infocom's more solid early efforts. Though it takes a very different approach to its fantasy element than does Zork I, it's no less entertaining for that. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Second April NAME: Sorcerer AUTHOR: Steve Meretzky E-MAIL: Good question DATE: 1984 PARSER: Infocom standard SUPPORTS: Infocom ports AVAILABILITY: Commerical URL: N/A VERSION: Release 15 RATING: ATMOSPHERE: A bit inconsistent (1.2) GAMEPLAY: Very strong (1.7) WRITING: At times too jokey (1.5) PLOT: Save-the-world (1.3) CHARACTERS: Few, not central (1.1) PUZZLES: Good, two excellent (1.8) MISC: Style doesn't work as well as it might, but entertaining and satisfying, with lots of very funny Easter eggs (1.3) OVERALL: 7.0 Sorcerer, the second entry in the Enchanter trilogy, begins arrestingly enough... You are in a strange logation, but you cannot remember how you got here. Everything is hazy, as though viewed through a gauze... Twisted Forest You are on a path through a blighted forest. The trees are sickly, and there is no undergrowth at all. . One tree here looks climbable. The path, which ends here, continues to the northeast. A hellhound is racing straight toward you, its open jaws displaying rows of razor-sharp teeth. That may be the best hook of any of Infocom's games--no desultory "west of a white house" here. Escaping from the hellhound leads to a attack of locusts, a crumbling riverbank, a pit of snakes, a rotted drawbridge...the danger comes thick and fast. Unfortunately, it soon turns out that the landscape in question is a dream--a dream that exactly predicts the middle of the game, true, but still just a dream and unrelated to one's performance in the game. I spent quite a while trying to figure out what exactly I was supposed to be doing in that dream, and only grudgingly concluded that it was a long, elaborate red herring. Steve Meretzky is among Sorcerer's authors, and his influence is clear: his earlier Planetfall was crammed with red herrings, and the jokey approach to NPCs (distinctly different from the other two entries in the series) also echoes the earlier game. The role of red herrings in a game is a matter of taste--though this reviewer doesn't care for it, he can't unequivocally declare that a large percentage of irrelevant objects and locations makes for a bad game. He can, however, warn the potential Sorcerer player to set aside the "anything this complex must be useful somehow" assumption and not to spend too long on any given problem or object, since chances are good that Meretzky is up to his old tricks. (Lord knows, I spent hours in some of those areas that proved irrelevant, trying to figure out why they were in the game.) Also notable in Sorcerer is the introduction of magic potions, absent in Enchanter and Spellbreaker--though, typically, only some of the potions that you find are relevant. Some of the potions have effects that are limited in duration, and one is permanent (it still seems to be in effect in Spellbreaker, in fact)...and Meretzky's goofball side is evident in the responses when you drink one potion while the effects of another are still ongoing--e.g., "Uh oh. Your left ear turned into a poisonous toad and ate your brain." Still, even if not especially innovative, the addition of magic potions give the magic another dimension. Meretzky's forte as a writer is humor, and Sorcerer's genre is wizardry/fantasy, not humor--and though the writing is far from disappointing, the atmosphere hardly approaches that of Dave Lebling's or Brian Moriarty's games. Too often, Meretzky is content to tell rather than show the player what to think--for example, in reading Belboz's journal at the beginning of the game: "The last three entries are strange and frightening, written in a hand quite different from that of Belboz, and in a language totally unfamiliar to you." Yes, fine, we can understand what has happened--but how more skillfully might the sense of unease have been heightened by dropping the "unfamiliar" part and actually reading bits from the journal, bits that imply something sinister! Compare the discovery of the alterations to your paper at the beginning of Lurking Horror; Lebling gives us all sorts of suggestive little tidbits ("there is something about a 'summoning,' or a 'visitor'...") in order to let our imagination roam. On the whole, there is little mood to Sorcerer; the dangers are so often vaguely ludicrous that it is hard to generate much in the way of tension. (Killer vines? A slot machine that crushes you with coins?) There are many, many locations like this: Highway This is a wide road winding away to the east and west, perhaps a relic of the Great Underground Empire you read about in history class. A passage leads up to the north. This could be in any game; the "history class" reference is typical of Meretzky in the way it shatters the description. That approach works brilliantly in Leather Goddesses and in other humorous games, but Sorcerer is not as free for humor in that respect, and contrasted with the skillful atmosphere in the rest of the series, the writing in Sorcerer feels a bit flat. (The lack of atmosphere is illustrated by the inclusion of the amusement park--how strange and inappropriate would that have felt in Enchanter or Spellbreaker?) Though the abandoned equipment and empty rooms in Planetfall became wearying, they did create a world of sorts; the world of Sorcerer feels thoroughly incoherent. All that said, though, there is much in Sorcerer to enjoy, including two of the better puzzles in the Infocom library. I enjoyed the glass maze immensely, even if it required considerable trial and error (and I never thought to take the easier solution); the idea felt so innovative that I was willing to put up with the aggravation. And the coal mine/time paradox puzzle is justly famous, and well worth the effort required to reach it; though I've knocked Meretzky's writing, I must admit that the tension I felt when trying to get through the mine in time was considerable. I don't particularly approve of the inclusion of the maze in the coal mine--it felt like an artificial way to make the puzzle more difficult--but the nature of the puzzle itself was so absorbing that I could forgive that. (And there's something vastly entertaining about being told "You cease to exist!...If you had continued to exist, your score would have been..." when you violate the confines of the loop.) As a mind-bender, the coal mine puzzle is one of the best--consider sometime where the knowledge of the combination originated--and the feel of ultimately getting through is indeed rewarding. (I always felt like the character's need for sleep once that puzzle is completed is intended to mirror one's own relief at being out of danger at last.) Minor annoyances--the maze, Meretzky's insistence on "Wheeeee!" in the coal chute--aside, this puzzle is clearly the highlight of the game (it makes the final few puzzles--fairly "duh"-worthy puzzles--feel wildly anticlimactic, though). Sorcerer is not especially hard--it was rated "advanced" under the rating system at the time, but there are few if any genuinely difficult puzzles (though figuring out what to solve takes a good deal of energy, of course). For fans of Enchanter, Sorcerer is worth playing; it continues the inventive use of magic to solve puzzles, and there is a genuine sense of accomplishment at the end. Though, particularly in the writing, it doesn't quite equal the standard set by Enchanter, it is well worth the time of any fantasy-game enthusiast. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Second April NAME: Spellbreaker AUTHOR: Dave Lebling E-MAIL: I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you DATE: 1985 PARSER: Infocom standard SUPPORTS: Infocom ports AVAILABILITY: Commerical URL: N/A VERSION: Release 87 RATING: ATMOSPHERE: Rich, surreal (1.8) GAMEPLAY: Outstanding (1.8) WRITING: Excellent (1.9) PLOT: Absorbing (1.9) CHARACTERS: Few, strange (1.6) PUZZLES: Good, but very hard (1.9) MISC: Absorbing in way that belies plot, humorous, diverse settings, slightly disappointing ending (1.8) OVERALL: 9.2 The culmination of Infocom's Enchanter trilogy came in 1985 with Spellbreaker, and quite a culmination it was; the final installment in the trilogy was far harder than the previous two, and far more satisfying as a game. Authored by Dave Lebling (who chose to leave his personal insignia in a thoroughly unlikely -- and slightly macabre -- place in the game), Spellbreaker puts the player at the head of the Circle of Enchanters at a moment when magic itself appears to be on the wane -- a plot borrowed from Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy, to be sure, but no less compelling for that. Gone is the semi-slapstick feel of Sorcerer -- the humor is subtler here -- but the mood here is also darker and lonelier; you encounter some humans along the way, but many sections of the game feel deserted -- at least, no longer populated by humans -- and Lebling's talent for atmosphere is evident. One room description begins this way: This is a ruined temple to a forgotten god. Black basalt pillars reach to the ceiling, but some are broken and lie in huge fragments on the ground. The air is stale and filled with the odor of decay. Bats roost in the rafters, the only remaining worshippers. Though the plot of the game amounts to, as with the first two entries, "save the world from an evil force through your use of magic", there is far more going on here -- and the plot is much more integrated into the game as a whole. The initial development/hook, though very different from the device in Sorcerer, has considerable shock value -- and, incidentally, serves to draw the player into the story rather than sounding a false alarm. Learning the "rules" of the game takes some time, and there are numerous opportunities to make the game unwinnable, many more than in Enchanter or Sorcerer (including one juxtaposition early in the game that seems like a "pull-my-finger" joke of sorts) -- but the unconventional nature of the story makes every new development a new discovery in a way that cannot be said of your average collect-the-treasure cave quest. Spellbreaker was given an "Expert" difficulty rating under the system at the time, a label only somewhat accurate. The bulk of the game's puzzles are fairly standard use-the-proper-spell affairs, though some, naturally, rely on wits rather than magic -- but up until nearly the end, Spellbreaker could just as well be an "Advanced" game. The last few puzzles, though -- certainly two of the last three, and a few others from near the end as well -- are vastly more difficult; I will candidly admit that I needed a substantial push. (In fact, I didn't even get the premise of one of them without assistance -- one that amounts to a variation on a mathematical problem -- and I suspect I was not alone in that respect.) That factor increases the frustration level of Spellbreaker considerably; intuitive leaps are needed at the end that were simply not necessary earlier, and the unwary player might well assume he or she has missed something that would make the last few puzzles less baffling. It should also be said that, considering the intricacy of the puzzle-solving required to get there, the great climactic ending is something of a letdown -- one short paragraph, in effect, hardly longer or more resounding than any of the many deaths one can die. The nature of the ultimate ending does, in a way, explain that -- but it still feels like a letdown (I wondered for a while whether there was another, "better" ending).Despite frustration, though, there is an elegance to many of Spellbreaker's puzzles that the player can only admire; Lebling manages to shake the feel of "put the octagonal key in the octagonal hole" or "give the food to the animal blocking the door" that plagues many games. (The implications of one puzzle in particular are either completely absurd or supremely logical -- either way, they might give you a headache trying to sort it out.) In a sense, the puzzles reflect the plot -- on occasions, magic ceases to help the player at all; there are areas and situations where no amount of spellcasting will set things right, a subversion of the "spell for every occasion" feel of the first two games. In other instances, though, the player's magical powers circumvent the rules of the game's universe in ways that the first two games (in the temple and the coal mine, respectively) had only hinted at. The effect is occasionally a bit dizzying -- in that the geography is largely non-contiguous, the player jumps between realms and situations, and types of dilemmas, rather abruptly -- but the final confrontation ties things together, for the most part. Spellbreaker's plot has been described, and criticized, as "narrow" and "linear," which usually means that the amount of exploration possible before the player is confronted with another puzzle is small -- and hence that only one or two puzzles are available at a given time. Critics of such an approach claim that it makes a game too easy -- but Spellbreaker should give the lie to that; even though the difficulty increases toward the end, as noted, there are few puzzles that could be considered obvious. Moreover, after the first few puzzles are solved, the game opens up considerably, to the extent that it is often possible to have five or six unsolved puzzles at hand. (And there are also a few dummy puzzles, or what seemed so to me, and a few that require specific tools that don't come until well after the problems are first encountered.) Granted, the freedom of the player is limited; the amount of variation in a winning game of Spellbreaker is minimal (as in, there are only a few puzzles or tasks whose order of solving or accomplishment can move around -- and not very far, at that -- whereas very few of the puzzles in Sorcerer, say, were in sequence) -- but that is part of why the game was, in fact, rated "Expert"; of the several puzzles available for head-scratching over at any given moment in Spellbreaker, it is likely that only one will be solvable. The feel of the game lends to the sense of narrowness, true -- for the uninitiated, the player follows a trail of sorts of mysterious cubes that transport him/her between a series of apparently disconnected locations, and the surface area that each cube provides to explore is limited to one or two rooms in a few cases. But it is possible to have several cubes whose possibilities are not fully explored at any given time -- one cube, by my count, has six distinct puzzles associated with it. The point is that Spellbreaker avoids the usual problems associated with linearity (in a way that, say, the recent "Time: all things..." does not), and provides one important advantage inherent in narrow games -- the sense of a storyline that the player discovers/is drawn into, rather than a bunch of problems to solve. (The cubes, suffice it to say, have a significance beyond their ability to transport you hither and yon -- and once you realize that significance, the plot of the game becomes much more intriguing.) The writing, as in most Lebling games, is controlled and skillful, all the more so considering the nature of the game's world -- the sheer surreality of your surroundings as the game progresses. (Try to picture this scene, for example: This place is odd indeed. Nothing that you look at is what it seems. If you look at something carefully enough it turns out to be something entirely different. The room is cluttered with objects and obviously hasn't been cleaned in a long time. The floor is overgrown with grass and weeds, and rabbits have chewed them. There are bird nests around the ceiling and droppings here and there. A very untidy and unsettling place. Much of the walls, ceiling and floor is covered in mirrors. There are empty, mirrorless square areas at north and south and a round black emptiness to the east. If you can visualize that scene at all, your imagination is better than mine.) There are, of course, defensible reasons why Lebling chose to have that particular room appear that particular way -- but it is also true that the atmosphere is sometimes more baffling than evocative of anything in particular. But though the nature of your travels allows Lebling to give you scenes like this... Light Room This place is bright and glaring. The very materials of which it is made blaze with light so bright that their forms are obscured. There are glowing archways to the west and south. ...or this... No Place There is nothing here. You are here, but there is no here where you are. You see nothing. Your senses are vainly trying to find something, anything to work on. You can know your body is there, but you can't truly sense it to confirm the suspicion. Your mind is alternately drawn in three "directions" (or at least what seem like directions): east, west and south. There is something slightly different about the nothing in those directions. ...the sense that the author is Telling You A Big Cosmic Important Tale is mostly absent, thankfully, and the game manages to take you into realms several degrees removed from the average landscape without losing the feel of the adventure-game romp, no small feat. Those who have finished the game might do well to consider the nature of what Spellbreaker was purporting to describe, and the restraint with which Lebling carries it out; that much of the game seems prosaic is, in a way, high praise. The humor in the game is essential to its enjoyability, in that respect -- in the plain scene, notably, in the merchant's patter, and in the very nature of the idol puzzle -- and the absurdities (and acknowledgment of same) help keep the game from becoming portentous. Spellbreaker and Trinity have been mentioned in the same breath, and for good reason -- their plots have much in common, and there is a deft interaction between puzzles and story in each game that makes them just as absorbing for the narrative as for the challenge of the puzzles. A resounding conclusion to a somewhat uneven series, Spellbreaker deserves to be considered one of Infocom's very best. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Robb Sherwin (robb_sherwin SP@G juno.com) NAME: Knight Orc AUTHOR: Level 9 Computing E-MAIL: DATE: 1987 PARSER: name unknown, excellent SUPPORTS: DOS, , Amiga, ST, C64, Apple, Amstrad AVAILABILITY: Commercial URL: N/A (ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/wadster/level9art.htm) VERSION: IBM PC Level 9 released "Knight Orc" in July of 1987 and soon thereafter changed what I felt entertainment software could be. While Knight Orc falls short of becoming a classic on the merits of pure art through this medium (unlike, say, "Sentinel" or "The Space Under The Window") it nonetheless does hold up eleven years later due to the strength of its atmosphere, gameplay and sheer indifference it shows to the player. Knight Orc was one of the first games to give a voice to a "villain." The player assumes the role of an orc named Grindleguts, abandoned by his buddies after a night of hard drinking. The orcs, caught in an inebriated stupor by a pack of foppish human knights, arrange for a "Contest of Champions" to take place in the morning. Which is all well and good, as they have no plans on sticking around for it. The orcs tie Grindleguts (completely passed out and in no position to argue) to a horse and give him a lance. The knights, bound by their code can do nothing but watch as the roving evil horde skulks off into the darkness. Much like the Baltimore Colts leaving for Indianapolis, really. The orcs then destroy the bridge and make good on their escape. (The backstory is related in a novella that accompanies the game entitled _The Sign of the Orc_ by Peter McBride. Having purchased hundreds of computer games throughout my life I maintain to this day that the story is the finest ever to accompany a piece of computer software. It's very clever and funny and somehow manages to convey warmth and stunning brutality all within paragraphs of one another.) The interface to Knight Orc is much like that of the typical Magnetic Scrolls wares. Text dominates the bottom of the display, while painted visuals (that unfortunately lost quite a bit in digitization on my IBM version) are displayed on top. While the PC version did not allow manipulation of the image size, much more text is present than on the default settings for the Magnetic Scrolls games. Knight Orc's parser is excellent -- objects can be located using a FIND command -- regardless of whether or not you have seen them (this does not work for special items you will learn about, and the command will not do any problem solving for you). It will understand virtually anything you throw at it, or give you helpful reasons why it doesn't. So, then. You're an orc trapped in human country. While attempting to apick up some rope to cross the river you will encounter the first bit of magic the game has to offer: the characters. I have never witnessed a greater collection of thugs, losers, egomaniacs and self-important motos than I have in this game. The descriptions offered by the parser as to the wandering characters are cruel -- The gripper: "he is a squinty, rat-like youth, with an orcish squint." Kris the ant-warrior: "she is a muscle-bound champion, armoured with plates of giant ant cuticle and wearing a strange ant-head helm. She looks a lot like an ogre-sized fried roach." Denzyl: "he is a right gullible and stupid-looking person." Fungus the boggit-man: "he is a lanky, twitchy-fingered, nicotine-addict." -- but a riot. Efffing genius. Furthermore, there are plenty of hapless denizens just waiting to have horrible things happen to them. I offer the following story as to why this game works so well: During one stretch on the first episode I was being identified as an orc rather easily. When a character recognizes an orc, her or she will attack. While getting thumped by the Green Knight (arguably the most powerful character in the episode till you solve his puzzle), a do-nothing slacker named "Sam the Grey Earl" jumps into the fray for a bit. After dying, I restored the game. I take a different route around, and Sam follows me for a little bit when I happen upon a cemetery. For whatever reason, Sam is lapping along like a puppy. I find the vampire for the first time, who offers me a spell in return for a victim. And guess who just happens to walk into the tomb? Sam is sucked down just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and because the little bastard couldn't leave me alone he is slain. And I get the spell. Justice. Absolute justice. (Such an event is completely impossible to reproduce. The denizens in the game seem to have some "goals," like picking up treasure and killing orcs, but while Sam never followed me again I can not say that the characters in the game really move in completely random patterns. Somehow, Level 9 were able to create an environment filled with rich characters leading their own lives all while not creating an impression of headless chickens running around in a maze. ) The last two episodes of Knight Orc are interchangeable -- without giving away too much, the end game involves a story of revenge and escape against those that tormented you -- and yet, reading the novella and playing the first episode does not begin to prepare you. (I should note that it ties into Level 9's earlier "Silicon Dreams" trilogy. Very, very nice.) The puzzles, jokes, characters and parser are all up to par with the best that Infocom had to offer. I suspect that this game did not receive the props that it should have due to its subject manner -- playing the "bad guy" didn't really become in style until "Syndicate." While Grindleguts is a greedy, violent, angry little pit he is also a character worthy of our respect. Especially among the piles of spods he's running around with. I suspect that the background characters in Knight Orc are set to mirror the kind of individuals we (the gaming community) can't -- in theory -- stand or relate to in real life. Jocks, Girls, urchins, soldiers... one can make the argument that when they are in our world (a game) they should be the outsiders. Knight Orc describes them with as much distaste as we normally get in "their" environments. Bloody fabulous. If you take the time to enjoy this game -- to smell the roses -- Knight Orc will return your attention with an incredible amount of pleasure. If Knight Orc were a woman, it would be the very cute, very sarcastic, yet seemingly shallow girl who melts like butter for you when you steer the pillow talk completely in her direction... and you then fall in love with her depth. REVIEWS 3: RISQUE GAMES -------------------------------------------------- { Editor's note: The following review is of a game which will possibly be rather offensive to many people. As with all SPAG reviews, the views expressed in the review are those of the reviewer. } From: Joe DeRouen (jderouen SP@G sparkynet.com) Name: Blow Job Drifter Author: Big Al Email: al_biggone SP@G hotmail.com Date: 1998 Parser: Inform Availability: Freeware (GMD) URL: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/incoming/if-archive/bj.z5 Version: Release 3.0 Plot: Who needs plot? (1.0) Atmosphere: Cinemax soft porn (1.0) Writing: Better than most in the genre (1.2) Game play: Way too much "guess the verb" (0.6) Characters: Typical Penthouse Forum fare (1.0) Puzzles: A good mix (1.2) Overall: Cheesy, but fun nevertheless (1.1) Blow Job Drifter. The name doesn't automatically conjure up great images of Interactive Fiction, does it? This is definitely an "adult" text adventure, but just because it falls into that category doesn't necessarily make it a bad or sloppily done game. The object of the game, if you haven't already guessed, is to "score" orally (and we're not talking about giving speeches here, buddy) with as many different women as you can. The game starts out in your apartment. You're naked and, for some reason that I've yet to fathom, you have absolutely nothing in your home to wear. Your first mission, then, is to find some clothes. After you've managed that fairly simple task, the whole city (and beyond) awaits your lecherous advances. There are over a dozen different female targets in BJ Drifter. Because the game is fairly linear, however, you'll have to go through most of them one by one. Despite way, way, way too many instances of "guess the verb", the game is a fun play. BJ Drifter doesn't take itself too seriously and thus serves as a parody of sorts to the more "serious" adult IF out there. The writing is surprisingly well done, the puzzles clever if a bit off- the-wall (when you get to the fish stuck in the woman's mouth, you'll know what I mean,) and the sex scenes . . . well, those you'll have to judge for yourself. But aside from being obviously misogynist (the game is from a male point of view, after all) they're pretty darned good. This is the first adult IF game I've played in years. In fact, I think my last such game was something called "Farmer's Daughter", which I played on the Commodore 128 way back in the mid-eighties. BJ Drifter is heads (and, dare I say it, tails) above that one, and manages to be fun and "adult" without being too offensive. Of course, if you're easily offended, you're probably better off staying away from BJ Drifter. For the rest of us, though, it's a great Sunday afternoon diversion that just may (bad pun alert!) keep you up all night. READER'S SCOREBOARD --------------------------------------------------------- As mentioned before, the scoreboard is now up to date! More ratings are welcome, especially for the games with a small number in the "#Sc." column. Notes: A - Runs on Amigas. AP - Runs on Apple IIs. GS - Runs on Apple IIGS. AR - Runs on Acorn Archimedes. C - Commercial, no fixed price. C30 - Commercial, with a fixed price of $30. F - Freeware. GMD - Available on ftp.gmd.de I - Runs on IBM compatibles. M - Runs on Macs. S20 - Shareware, registration costs $20. 64 - Runs on Commodore 64s. ST - Runs on Atari STs. TAD - Written with TADS. This means it can run on: AmigaDOS, NeXT and PC, Atari ST/TT/Falcon, DECstation (MIPS) Unix Patchlevel 1 and 2, IBM, IBM RT, Linux, Apple Macintosh, SGI Iris/Indigo running Irix, Sun 4 (Sparc) running SunOS or Solaris 2, Sun 3, OS/2, and even a 386+ protected mode version. AGT - Available for IBM, Mac, Amiga, and Atari ST. This does not include games made with the Master's edition. ADVSYS - Available for PC and Macintosh only, or so my sources tell me. (Source code available as well. So it can be ported to other computers.) HUG - Written with Hugo. Runs on MS-DOS, Linux, and Amigas. INF - Infocom or Inform game. These games will run on: Atari ST, Amiga, Apple Macintosh, IBM, Unix, VMS, Apple II, Apple IIGS, C64, TSR-80, and Acorn Archimedes. There may be other computers on which it runs as well. Name Avg Sc Chr Puz # Sc Issue Notes: ==== ====== === === ==== ============== Aayela 8.6 1.6 1.7 1 F_TAD_GMD Adventure (all variants) 6.6 0.7 1.0 7 8 F_INF_TAD_ETC_GMD Adventureland 4.0 0.5 1.5 1 F_GMD Adv. of Elizabeth Highe 3.1 0.5 0.3 2 5 F_AGT Afternoon Visit 4.1 1.0 0.8 1 Alien Abduction? 7.9 1.7 1.7 1 All Quiet...Library 4.7 0.8 0.7 4 7 F_INF_GMD Amnesia 7.8 1.5 1.7 2 9 C_AP_I_64 Another...No Beer 2.4 0.2 0.8 2 4 S10_IBM_GMD Arthur: Excalibur 8.0 1.3 1.6 4 4,14C_INF Awakened 7.7 1.7 1.6 1 Awe-Chasm 2.4 0.3 0.6 1 8 S?_IBM_ST Babel 8.2 1.8 1.6 1 Balances 6.5 0.9 1.4 4 6 F_INF_GMD Ballyhoo 7.7 1.8 1.5 4 4 C_INF Beyond the Tesseract 3.7 0.1 0.6 1 6 F_I_GMD Beyond Zork 8.1 1.6 1.9 4 5 C_INF BJ Drifter 7.3 1.5 1.5 1 Border Zone 7.3 1.4 1.4 6 4 C_INF Broken String 3.1 0.5 0.6 1 x F_TADS_GMD BSE 6.6 1.0 1.0 1 Bunny 6.6 1.0 1.4 1 Bureaucracy 7.5 1.6 1.3 6 5 C_INF Busted 5.2 1.0 1.1 1 F_INF_GMD Castaway 1.1 0.0 0.4 1 5 F_IBM_GMD Castle Elsinore 5.3 1.0 1.2 1 Change in the Weather 7.2 0.9 1.4 6 7, 14 F_INF_GMD Chicken under Window 6.9 0.0 0.0 1 Christminster 8.4 1.7 1.6 5 F_INF_GMD Corruption 7.8 1.6 1.1 3 x C_I Cosmoserve 8.7 1.3 1.4 2 5 F_AGT_GMD Crypt v2.0 5.0 1.0 1.5 1 3 S12_IBM_GMD Curses 8.4 1.3 1.7 9 2 F_INF_GMD Cutthroats 6.4 1.4 1.2 5 1 C_INF Dampcamp 6.0 1.0 1.4 1 Deadline 6.9 1.2 1.3 6 x C_INF Delusions 8.4 1.8 1.6 1 Deep Space Drifter 5.5 1.4 1 3 S15_TAD_GMD Delusions 7.4 1.3 1.5 2 14F_INF_GMD Demon's Tomb 7.4 1.2 1.1 2 9 C_I Detective 1.0 0.0 0.0 5 4,5 F_AGT_GMD Detective-MST3K 6.1 0.8 0.1 4 7,8 F_INF_GMD Ditch Day Drifter 7.1 1.2 1.6 1 2 F_TAD_GMD Dungeon 7.4 1.5 1.6 1 F_GMD Dungeon Adventure 6.8 1.3 1.6 1 4 F_SEE REVIEW Dungeon of Dunjin 5.8 0.7 1.4 3 3, 14 S20_IBM_MAC_GMD Edifice 7.7 1.6 1.7 2 Electrabot 0.7 0.0 0.0 1 5 F_AGT_GMD Emy Discovers Life 4.1 1.0 1.0 1 Enchanter 7.1 0.9 1.4 6 2 C_INF Enhanced 5.0 1.3 1.3 1 2 S10_TAD_GMD Eric the Unready 6.9 1.5 1.5 2 x C_I Everybody Loves a Parade 7.3 1.2 1.3 1 Fable 2.0 0.2 0.1 1 6 F_AGT_GMD Fear 7.6 1.5 1.6 1 F_GMD Firebird 8.1 1.7 1.6 1 Fish 7.6 1.2 1.7 3 x C_I Foggywood Hijinx 7.6 1.7 1.7 1 Forbidden Castle 4.8 0.6 0.5 1 x C_AP Frenetic Five 5.1 1.2 0.2 1 Friday Afternoon 6.3 1.4 1.2 1 13 F_INF_GMD Frobozz Magic Support 8.0 1.6 1.7 1 Gateway 7.5 1.6 1.5 1 x C_I Glowgrass 7.4 1.6 1.5 2 13 F_INF_GMD Great Archaelog. Race 6.5 1.0 1.5 1 3 S20_TAD_GMD Guardians of Infinity 8.5 1.3 1 9 C_I Guild of Thieves 7.3 1.2 1.6 3 x C_I Gumshoe 6.3 1.3 1.1 2 9 F_INF_GMD Hitchhiker's Guide 7.6 1.4 1.5 8 5 C_INF Hollywood Hijinx 6.4 0.9 1.6 7 x C_INF Horror30.zip 3.7 0.3 0.7 2 3 S20_IBM_GMD Horror of Rylvania 7.7 1 1 F_TAD_GMD Humbug 7.0 1.7 1.5 2 x F_GMD Ice Princess 6.2 1.1 1.6 1 Infidel 6.9 0.0 1.4 9 1,2 C_INF Inhumane 3.6 0.2 0.7 1 9 F_INF_GMD I-0: Jailbait... 8.0 1.7 1.3 4 F_INF_GMD Jacaranda Jim 7.0 1 x F_GMD Jeweled Arena 8.0 1.5 1.5 1 x ? Jigsaw 7.7 1.3 1.4 6 8,9 F_INF_GMD Jinxter 6.4 1.1 1.3 2 x C_I John's Fire Witch 7.1 1.1 1.6 6 4 S6_TADS_GMD Journey 7.8 1.6 1.3 3 5 C_INF Jouney Into Xanth 5.0 1.3 1.2 1 8 F_AGT_GMD Kissing the Buddha's... 8.1 2.0 1.2 1 Klaustrophobia 6.7 1.2 1.3 5 1 S15_AGT_GMD Leather Goddesses 7.1 1.3 1.5 8 4 C_INF Legend Lives! 8.9 0.9 1.6 2 5 F_TADS_GMD Lessen of the Tortoise 8.1 1.6 1.6 1 F_TADS_GMD Lethe Flow Phoenix 6.8 1.4 1.5 3 9 F_TADS_GMD Light: Shelby's Addendum 8.3 1.8 0.9 2 9 S?_TADS_GMD Lists and Lists 7.5 1.5 1.8 1 Losing Your Grip 8.2 1.3 1.4 2 14S_TADS_GMD Lost New York 8.2 1.6 1.6 1 Lurking Horror 7.3 1.4 1.4 10 1,3 C_INF MacWesleyan / PC Univ 5.6 0.7 1.0 1 x F_TADS_GMD Magic.zip 4.5 0.5 0.5 1 3 S20_IBM_GMD Magic Toyshop 4.3 0.7 1.1 2 F_INF_GMD Matter of Time 1.4 0.3 1.4 1 14F_ALAN_GMD Meteor...Sherbet 8.5 1.6 1.9 1 F_INF_GMD Mind Electric 5.1 0.6 0.8 3 7,8 F_INF_GMD Mind Forever Voyaging 8.4 1.3 0.8 7 5 C_INF Moist 8.4 1.7 1.6 1 Moonmist 5.7 1.2 1.0 10 1 C_INF Mop & Murder 5.0 0.9 1.0 2 4,5 F_AGT_GMD Multidimen. Thief 5.6 0.4 1.0 3 2,9 S15_AGT_GMD Mystery House 4.1 0.3 0.7 1 x F_AP_GMD New Day 5.5 1.3 0.9 1 13 F_INF_GMD Night at Museum Forev 4.2 0.3 1.0 4 7,8 F_TAD_GMD Nord and Bert 6.1 0.8 1.3 4 4 C_INF Odieus...Flingshot 3.3 0.4 0.7 2 5 F_INF_GMD One Hand Clapping 6.9 1.2 1.4 3 5 F_ADVSYS_GMD One That Got Away 6.7 1.3 1.2 3 7,8 F_TAD_GMD Oo-Topos 5.7 0.2 1.0 1 x C_AP_I_64 Path to Fortune 6.8 1.4 0.8 1 9 S_INF_GMD Pawn 6.5 1.0 1.2 1 x C_I_AP_64 PC University: See MacWesleyan Perseus & Andromeda 3.4 0.3 1.0 1 x ? Phred Phontious...Pizza 5.2 0.8 1.3 1 19 F_INF_GMD Planetfall 7.4 1.6 1.5 9 4 C_INF Plundered Hearts 7.2 1.3 1.1 5 4 C_INF Pyramids of Mars 6.0 1.2 1.2 1 Quarterstaff 6.1 1.3 0.6 1 9 C_M Ralph 7.3 1.7 1.5 1 Reruns 5.2 1.2 1.2 1 Sanity Claus 9.0 1 1 S10_AGT_GMD Save Princeton 5.8 1.2 1.3 2 8 S10_TAD_GMD Seastalker 5.5 1.2 0.9 6 4 C_INF Shades of Grey 8.0 1.3 1.4 4 1,2 F_AGT_GMD Sherlock 7.3 1.4 1.4 3 4 C_INF She's Got a Thing... 7.8 1.8 1.8 2 13 F_INF Shogun 7.1 1.5 0.5 1 4 C_INF Sins against Mimesis 7.7 1.7 1.6 1 Sir Ramic Hobbs 5.0 1.0 1.5 1 6 F_AGT_GMD Small World 5.9 1.4 0.9 1 So Far 8.6 1.5 1.8 2 F_INF_GMD Sorcerer 7.3 0.6 1.6 5 2 C_INF South American Trek 0.9 0.2 0.5 1 5 ?_IBM_GMD Space Aliens...Cardigan 1.6 0.4 0.3 5 3 S60_AGT_GMD Space under Window 7.3 0.0 0.0 1 Spellbreaker 8.3 1.2 1.8 5 2 C_INF Spellcasting 101 7.0 1.0 1.2 1 x C_I Spellcasting 201 7.8 1.5 1.6 1 x C_I Spellcasting 301 7.5 1.4 1.5 1 x C_I Spider and Web 8.3 1.7 1.6 2 14F_INF_GMD SpiritWrak 6.7 1.3 1.1 2 9 F_INF_GMD Spur 7.2 1.4 1.2 1 9 F_HUG_GMD Starcross 7.0 1.1 1.3 5 1 C_INF Stationfall 7.6 1.6 1.6 5 5 C_INF Stiffy - MiSTing 4.2 0.1 0.1 1 Sunset Over Savannah 8.3 1.3 1.5 1 13 F_INF_GMD Suspect 5.8 1.2 1.0 3 4 C_INF Suspended 7.2 1.3 1.3 5 8 C_INF Tapestry 6.9 1.2 0.7 2 14F_INF_GMD Tempest 5.6 1.0 0.6 1 13 F_INF_GMD Theatre 7.0 1.1 1.3 5 6 F_INF_GMD TimeQuest 8.6 1.5 1.8 1 x C_I TimeSquared 4.3 1.1 1.1 1 x F_AGT_GMD Toonesia 6.4 1.2 1.3 4 7 F_TAD_GMD Tossed into Space 3.9 0.2 0.6 1 4 F_AGT_GMD Travels in Land of Erden 6.2 1.5 1.5 1 Treasure.zip 0 3 S20_IBM_GMD Trinity 8.6 1.4 1.7 10 1,2 C_INF Tryst of Fate 7.1 1.4 1.3 1 Tube Trouble 3.3 0.5 0.4 1 F_INF_GMD Uncle Zebulon's Will 7.0 0.8 1.3 7 7 F_TAD_GMD Undertow 5.2 1.0 0.8 1 F_TAD_GMD Undo 1.9 0.1 0.4 2 7 F_TAD_GMD Unnkulian One-Half 7.0 1.2 1.6 7 1 F_TAD_GMD Unnkulian Unventure 1 7.1 1.2 1.6 6 1,2 F_TAD_GMD Unnkulian Unventure 2 7.2 1.4 1.5 4 1 F_TAD_GMD Unnkulian Zero 9.0 1 1 F_TAD_GMD Veritas 7.9 1.6 1.7 1 Waystation 5.7 0.7 0.9 2 9 F_TAD_GMD Wearing the Claw 6.8 1.1 1.1 2 F_INF_GMD Wedding 8.0 1.7 1.6 1 Wishbringer 7.4 1.4 1.3 7 5,6 C_INF Witness 6.9 1.6 1.2 7 1,3,9 C_INF Wonderland 7.5 1.3 1.4 1 x C_I World 6.5 0.6 1.3 2 4 F_SEE REVIEW Zanfar 2.6 0.2 0.4 1 8 F_AGT_GMD Zero Sum Game 7.5 1.7 1.2 1 13 F_INF_GMD Zork 0 6.3 1.1 1.4 5 14C_INF Zork 1 6.3 0.8 1.5 12 1,2 C_INF Zork 2 6.5 0.8 1.5 8 1,2 C_INF Zork 3 6.1 0.7 1.4 6 1,2 C_INF Zork Undisc. Undergr. 6.5 1.0 1.2 1 14F_INF -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Top Five: A game is not eligible for the Top Five unless it has received at least three ratings from different readers. This is to ensure a more democratic and accurate depiction of the best games. Since the last issue, "Trinity" has taken back its first place, and the previous number 1, "Christminster" has been passed by one more game: Graham Nelson's "Curses". 1. Trinity 8.6 10 votes 2. Curses 8.4 9 votes 3. Christminster 8.4 5 votes 4. Mind Fvr Voyaging 8.4 7 votes 5. Spellbreaker 8.3 5 votes CLOSING REMARKS ------------------------------------------------------------- Following the tradition, I plan to devote an entire issue of SPAG to this year's Competition entries. So reviews of the Competition games are very welcome indeed! Another thing that would be welcome is game ratings for some of the games which I know are very popular, but which have only been rated once or twice (or not at all) on the Readers' Scoreboard. Please remember that a game is only eligible for a place on the Top Five if it's been rated by at least three persons... Until the next issue: happy adventuring! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for helping to keep text adventures alive!