Tag: Interactive Fiction

3 out of 5 Adventure Interactive Fiction

Voodoo Castle

Publisher: Adventure International

Designer: Scott Adams, Alexis Adams

Type: Adventure

Platform: Various

Release Date: 1979

Rating:

This is a rather interesting turn when it comes to the Scott Adams adventures (a term that seemed to have stuck to these series of games, since he happened to be the developer). Anyway, once again, the plot of this game is a little different to the original one, which was simply running around collecting treasure. However, I guess that is something that sort of hails back to the original adventure game, Colossal Cave (which has since been revamped several times).

So, the story is that there happens to be this guy, Count Cristo, that has fallen asleep, and it is your job to wake him up. Well, you have an entire castle to explore, and you need to collect the ingrediants for the ritual which is required to perform the task. Well, I have to admit that this is certainly somewhat different.

Like a lot of his games, this one is pretty tricky, but it isn’t so hard as to make it basically uncompletable (I managed to do it as a kid, but I also suspect that I managed to get some help from somewhere, I’m just not sure where). Yet, in a way, as we progress through these games, they do get more and more difficult as time goes one. However, they are still fun, especially when you come back to them after a while and attempt to make your way through them again.

Still, I probably wouldn’t consider this to be one of my favourites, probably because I really am not a big fan of the gothic horror genre, which this game clearly falls into.

Anyway, there is a short entry on Wikipedia for this game, and some details on the Interactive Fiction Database. Also, if you are looking for hints (or even a solution), there are plenty to be found.

Tags Adventure, Interactive Fiction, Retro Game, Scott Adams Adventure, Text Adventure

4 out of 5 Adventure Interactive Fiction

Mission Impossible

Publisher: Adventure International

Designer: Scott Adams

Type: Adventure

Platform: Various

Release Date: 1979

Rating:

This is the third of Scott Adam’s adventures, and it is one that was based on the popular television show at the time, Mission Impossible. Sure, many of us probably associate this series with the more recent Tom Cruise movies (which I believe has spawned something like 6 so far) but back in the day it was actually a television show. You play Jim Phelps (Ethan Hawke was an addition for the movies since the movies were supposed to follow on from the series) and you find yourself in a nuclear power plant. Your job, if you chose to accept it (not that you have any choice because, well, you can’t leave the power plant) is to stop it from going into meltdown.

Well, this is the first of the games where you don’t have to collect treasures. Instead, you have to make your way around the plant and work out how to stop it from, well, blowing up. Okay, you don’t quite have a time limit, though I suspect adding such a limit wouldn’t have been all that hard. However, we must remember that this was one of the earlier games, so the developer (namely Scott Adams) was no doubt experimenting with the style. I guess the fact that he has moved on from simply having one travel around a land, solving problems, and collecting treasure, certainly does add a lot to this game.

It was one of the earlier games that I played, namely because the computer that we had was, well, somewhat limited in the software that was available. However, my Dad did end up collecting a lot of these games, namely because I liked them so much. It is hard, don’t get me wrong, and once you complete it, it really doesn’t have all that much replay value either. Sure, I might have not played it for ages, but I do suspect that if I were to fire it up again, then, well, I could probably complete it pretty quickly (and even then, the solution is online as well).

Anyway, this game is also known as Secret Mission, no doubt because the owners of the show weren’t too happy that Adams was stealing and using their property (no doubt to attract more customers). Mind you, these days companies go out of their way to merchandise products through software, but this was back in 1979.

There doesn’t appear to be a Wikipedia entry for this game, though there are solutions, including one for the TRS-80 (which also includes details on that version of the game), as well as a walkthrough in Ultimate Game Solutions.

Tags Adventure, Interactive Fiction, Retro Game, Scott Adams Adventure, Text Adventure

4 out of 5 Adventure Interactive Fiction

Pirate Island

Publisher: Creative Computing Software/Adventure International

Designer: Scott Adams

Type: Adventure

Platform: Various

Release Date: 1979

Rating:

This is the second of Scott Adams’ adventures, and it is slightly different to the first one in that this time you aren’t just exploring a maze collecting treasure, and bringing them back to a single place. No, instead you have to go on a quest to actually find a pirate’s treasure horde and bring it back home. So, much of the game involves not just getting to the island but also building your own ship so that you can actually sail to this island.

I believe that this game is actually based on the story of Treasure Island, though I don’t actually believe you play any of the major characters, and you certainly don’t meet Peter in the game. Actually, the characters that you do meet don’t really have names either (that is if you actually meet any characters – it has been a while since I have played it, but I certainly have played it quite a lot). I actually found the game to be quite challenging in a way, but since it was pretty much one of the first games I ever got it was also one of the first games that I completed.

As I mentioned, the game itself is challenging, though I don’t believe that it is really all that hard. The problem is, of course, that once you manage to complete it you sort of know how to get to the end of the game, so replayability is really not something that is a factor. However, I do remember that this game was pretty much available for most of the platforms that I encountered. In fact, a friend even had a cartridge that you would plug into the back of his Vic-20.

Once again though, I decided to actually play through this game because, well, it isn’t that long. Yeah, it’s pretty fun, especially since you get to build a ship, though inventory is a bit of a problem because there is only so much you can carry (though, of course, that goes without saying, doesn’t it). The problems are pretty tricky, and it took me a while to work out what I need to hold to book to intone the magic word. However, you don’t need an intricate knowledge of treasure island to be able to finish it. It’s tricky, but fun.

Oh, and the graphical version is certainly better than the first game because the game shows the graphics and the text at the same time, and even shows the objects that have been dropped in the specific locations. However, the problem that does arise is that the location details pretty quickly disappear being the picture, which will result in you have to look multiple times. Still, at least you can play the game with the piccies without constantly swapping around.

Anyway, Wikipedia probably provides a much more objective view of the game, though I also discovered that the source code is also available (and on the internet as well). Oh, and if you want a walkthrough, there are a few on the internet, though I did find this one fairly quickly.

Tags Adventure, Interactive Fiction, Retro Game, Text Adventure

4 out of 5 Adventure Interactive Fiction

Adventureland

Publisher: Creative Computing Software

Designer: Scott Adams

Type: Adventure/Interactive Fiction

Platform: C64

Release Date: 1978

Rating:

While this isn’t the first-ever adventure game (or should I call it an ‘Interactive Fiction’ which is what they seem to be called today) it certainly is up there with the originals. I should point out first of all that this is entirely text-based, though later iterations of this game did have graphics added to it, that doesn’t mean that you can simply sit down with your controller and play it as if you were playing Super Mario Bros.

No, this is a game where you enter commands into the parser, effectively telling the computer what you want to do. The parser is two words, namely action and verb, though sometimes it might as for some clarifications. A description of the room is given to you at the top of the screen, as well as any items that you might see there, which does give you a bit of a hint as to what can be done there.

It’s not really that hard, but then again I did complete it when I was something like nine years old, and it has been around for so long that you can easily find a solution of the internet. However, that doesn’t mean that you should actually use the solution because it sort of destroys the fun of trying to work out what to do, and to solve all the puzzles.

The concept is pretty simple though, you have to find all of the treasures, bring them back to one particular spot, and then type on Score. Once you have all the treasures there, then you basically win the game. Mind you, I generally bring each and every item back to this one spot as well, namely because it helps me know where things are. However, you don’t really need to do that as the treasures are pretty obvious when you come across them.

Well, I decided that I would replay it (after initially writing this review) namely because it is a rather short game, and I hadn’t played it for a while. One of the things that I noticed is that if you die, you go to limbo, where you can escape if you head in the right direction. Mind you, there are a few ways of dying, such as wandering into the meadow with some evil-smelling mud, which results in the dragon waking up and killing you. However, despite the fact that you can sort of escape death, that doesn’t mean you can’t get snookered, as there are things that you can do that will make the game impossible to complete.

Oh, and for the problems, well, they are generally okay, but there are a couple, such as the one involving Paul Bunyan, that sort of end up having you guess how to deal with it. Okay, knowing the story probably won’t help all that much, but while most of the problems can be solved (or have hints as to solving them), some of them require a bit of joining a couple of rather distant dots together. Also, considering problems, there is a graphical version on the C64 (the version I played), and you can tell that it is the first because you need to switch between the pictures, and the text, which is quite annoying mind you.

As I said, it isn’t really that easy, but the problems are solvable. The catch with this game is that you don’t necessarily know all of the commands that you can use, and this it sometimes takes some guesswork. However, for the first in a series, it still is pretty good, and it certainly does have a lot of historical value as well.

Anyway, you can find out more about this game on Wikipedia, and of course, if you want to play it, along with the many emulators and versions that exist, you can also play it online.

Tags Adventure, Interactive Fiction, Retro Game