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Adventures
| Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, The | Scott Adams and Phillip Case / Adventure International | [top] | |
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A tie-in to the 1984 cult film The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the
8th Dimension, you play the ineffably cool Dr. Banzai: radical neurosurgeon,
cutting-edge physicist, nemesis of nefarious criminal mastermind Hanoi Xan and lead
guitarist of new-wave sensation the Hong Kong Cavaliers. (Unfortunately, you'll have
to take our word for it, as the game doesn't make much use of these qualities.) As
in the wacky movie, your goal here is ultimately to overcome a potentially
planet-destroying bomb set by the Black Lectroids, inhabitants of Planet 10. Unlike
the movie, you don't accomplish this by overcoming the Red Lectroids from the 8th
Dimension with the assistance of Team Banzai and the Blue Blaze Irregulars - instead,
in a Commander Keen fashion, you wander an eerily depopulated town to procure the
necessary components (gasoline, sand, bauxite and "a special catalyst") to power up
your oscillation overthruster-sporting jet-car and transmit cancellation codes to
the bomb. Tiresome inventory management and Adventure International's characteristic
primitive VERB NOUN text parser (illustrated, on some platforms, with static images)
fill the game with stops and starts, making you sometimes forget in all the to-ing
and fro-ing that you're playing the part of such a fascinating individual, but
maintaining movies' pacing is a gentle art only being effectively engaged today, over
two decades after this trailblazing game's effort. See also: #Scott Adams Collection |
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| Alpine Encounter | Ibidinc / Random House, Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a little known interactive fiction game with graphics. Two major crimes have taken place in different parts of the world. In Peking, China, a priceless vase was stolen and in the USA top-secret plans for a new missile were taken from a military installation in the Rocky Mountains. Behind the thefts is VODOC, a sinister secret organization that manipulates world events, to create a marketplace for its evil services. As Agent 456, you are sent to Alpenhof Ski Resort in Switzerland and you have twelve hours to stop the VODAC world domination conspiracy. | ||
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| Asylum | William F. Denman, Michael O. Haire / Med Systems Software | [top] | |
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Here's an obscure little gem of a game where the goal is to escape from the mental institution in which you're trapped. This is the one with the famous "piano" puzzle: Your character has a morbid fear that a piano will come crashing down on his head if he looks up... and if you try it, that's exactly what happens! So to get past another character who's blocking your path, you have to make them look up, so the piano lands on them instead. Everyone who's ever played it seems to have fond memories of it. Unfortunately it's also quite rare, Med Systems being a rather small game shop. For some computer platforms, only 500 or 1000 copies were ever produced. Note that this game is actually Asylum II, even though it says Asylum. Med Systems changed their name to Screenplay about halfway through their run. All Screenplay releases are Asylum II, while Med Sys packages indicate the original Asylum. Both games are pretty much the same, but Asylum II is smaller and much easier than the first. It's a combination of illustrated text adventure and old-style first-person maze game, set in a treatment center for adventure game addicts. Barren environment, weak multi-word parser. The corridors of the asylum are presented as Wizardry-style line drawings, and mapping is a must. Features a mix of mechanical puzzles and interaction with the other inmates, some of whom are violent. Puzzles start out fiendish and even obscure, but the game becomes much simpler towards the end, in both puzzles and layout. The best part is the catharsis of finally escaping the blasted thing. | ||
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| Asylum | Screenplay | [top] | |
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You have woken up in a room like a cell. In the room is a bed with a box on it. Inside the box is a credit card. Looking around the room you see the door open, knowing this is an asylum you plan to escape. Your task is to escape from the Asylum using the objects you find to solve the problems. Along the way though you will encounter the other inmates. The game is a graphical text adventure based upon an earlier 1982 PC Booter game by William F. Denman Jr. The screen is split into two halves. The top half shows what you can see in front of you, in the bottom is the text describing your surroundings: here you can type commands. Using the arrow keys you move yourself about a 3D maze. You can draw a map. since it is easy to get lost. | ||
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| Avon | Jonathan Partington and Jon Thackray / Topologika | [top] | |
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A large, solidly built game with a promisingly starting plot. And even if the latter finally doesn't live up to the expectations, turning into a treasure hunt; the parser is rather primitive by modern standards; the player is treated most unfairly (not to mention such trifles as sudden deaths without the possibility of undoing the fatal action, and landing in a "cul-de-sac" without warning, this is the only game I've ever encountered that can be made unwinnable by simply saving it! As the authors explain, that's done to avoid "brute-force" solutions to some of the puzzles; still, it'd be nice if the players at least received a warning about it); and the game requires from you to slay a few people for no apparent reason, this work still remains admirable in several respects. Among them are the clever Shakespeare references (the game starts with the player character being magically transferred to Shakespearian time), the odd humour, and, of course, the fulcrum of the whole game, the puzzles (to tell the truth, the ones in the last of the three structural sections of the game appeared to overuse the "try a random object in a random situation and see what happens" kind of approach, but most of them were logical and elegant). Thus, if you are a puzzle-lover, and the aforementioned issues don't scare you away, you should give it a try. In 1999, it was made freeware. | ||
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| Borrowed Time / Time To Die | Interplay Productions, Inc. / Activision | [top] | |
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One of the earliest and still the best murder mysteries ever made, Borrowed Time is a gripping story set in 1939. You play Sam Barlow, Private Eye, who must save his life from a death threat while investigating a case that has many twists and turns. Good writing, interface, and on-screen tutorial feature round off this forgotten classic in which you can die in many creative ways. The puzzles are not hard, but the fact that you'll be shot dead for no apparent reason whatsover (until you restore numerous times to find out) really bog down what is otherwise a good gumshoe game. | ||
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| Brimstone | Synapse Software Corporation / Broderbund Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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This real time all-text tale puts you in the role of Sir Gawain, a knight of the Round Table. It takes place in a dream that traps you in the underworld of Ulro, where you must learn five magic words in order to escape. The most unusual aspect of this game is probably the perspective: the story is described in the third person, with Gawain referred to by name, unlike most other text adventures that use the second person, referring to your character as 'he'. The hardbound book that comes with the game includes a novella-length introduction to the plot, which is identified as the first chapters of the story, into which you jump when you commence game play. | ||
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| Castle Adventure / Golden Wombat | Kevin Bales / Keypunch | [top] | |
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One of the most memorable ASCII games of the bygone BSS era, Castle Adventure is a fun parser-based maze adventure designed by Kevin Bales, and later released ("stolen" in fact) by Keypunch as part of their Swords and Sorcery package under the title Golden Wombat. Similar to Atari's Adventure and many other early adventure/RPGs, your objective in the game is to collect all valuables and complete all tasks. A perfect score is 1,550 points, but it is possible to finish the game with lower score. Although the game looks like a very out of date title, with ASCII characters and simplistic gameplay, it's actually both more memorable and deeper than most ASCII games. For starter, room descriptions are quite detailed and well-written. Second, the game is played in real time, which means monsters will not wait for you to type something before they attack. This makes fighting appropriately exciting. Lastly, the game is much deeper than most other maze games because it has puzzles. These require you to type the right commands into the parser, like in a typical text adventure, such as "show cross to vampire." Although most puzzles are obvious, there are some obscure ones that will stump you for some time. In a nod to RPG genre, you can only carry a limited number of items at any given time. | ||
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| Cave Girl Clair | Rhiannon Software / Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a combination children's book and video game, for girls ages 7-12. It included a game disk in a back cover pocket. Resourceful and hardy, Clair must meet the challenges of the New Stone Age. When her people migrate to their summer cave, Clair and her pet rabbit are mistakenly left far behind. But she is a spunky girl and knows they will return one day. She needs help from you. Can Clair survive until her people return? | ||
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| Computer Novel Construction Set | Hayden Software | [top] | |
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Arguably the world's first commercial text adventure authoring program for IBM PC, Hayden's Computer Novel Construction Set is a surprisingly versatile program that lets non-programmers create stand-alone text adventures in the Infocom tradition, complete with storyline and inventory-based puzzles. CNCS uses a series of DOS-based menus and pop-up windows for building rooms, objects, descriptions, etc. A nice touch is that the game you create is automatically presented with different windows for each game element, e.g. one window for your character's inventory, one for room description, one for commands, and so on. This is much more advanced than most early games from Hayden themselves (e.g. The Holy Grail), and this multiple-window presentation is a good format rarely seen in IF (with some exceptions, e.g. Infocom's Beyond Zork). The included tutorial file and mini-game give a good idea of what the program is capable of, and most options are self-explanatory. Overall, CNCS is definitely worth a look for anyone interested in writing interactive fiction games but don't want to spend (a lot of) time to learn the nitty-gritty of modern-day IF authoring languages (such as Inform or TADS). It is user-friendly, versatile, and stands up quite well with time. The parser seems to be more versatile than later freeware program Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT), although it is still largely limited by verb-noun construct. It was later released as freeware. | ||
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| Forbidden Castle | Angelsoft, Inc./ Mindscape Inc. | [top] | |
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This is one of only two Angelsoft games to be done completely in-house, not licensed from an existing book or film. It's one of their better releases, a typical save-the-princess game set in a well-defined fantasy world that is brought to life by detailed descriptions. Puzzles are logical and fun, and some are even original. Most puzzles involve interactions with non-player characters, most of whom are well written and quite memorable. The mischievous Blue Faerie always does the opposite of what you ask her, so getting things you want require a fun exercise of pretending you don't want them. Angelsoft's parser has been much improved from the days of Voodoo Island, and now understands some synonyms, although it is still not nearly as versatile as Infocom's. Still, the wonderful descriptions and colorful characters make this worth a play-through for every IF fan. | ||
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| Frederick Forsyth's The Fourth Protocol | Electronic Pencil Co. Ltd., The / Ariolasoft | [top] | |
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This interactive fiction computer game is based on the bestselling Cold War spy novel by Frederick Forsyth released in 1984 by Hutchinson publishing. As the novel's hero John Preston, you have been appointed head of the C1(A), an agency of the British Secret Intelligence Service. You uncover a plot, named AURORA, to take power in the Soviet Union hatched by a secret faction of high-level minds. In order to stop their plan you read a lot of info found in Top Secret folders, set wiretaps, monitor and interrogate suspects and informants, and gather facts and clues. The game has three main sections - The NATO Documents, The Bomb and The SAS Assault. A secret code must be gained in order to proceed from one to the next. Unique icon-based graphics provide the means to conduct your investigation though they're not mouse-clickable (you have to browse the icons using the space bar). Interesting plot twists and developments happen during the game and are communicated to you with text-only descriptions. | ||
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| Futuria [MAC] | Unicorn Software | [top] | |
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This is an enhanced port of Forbidden City / Forbidden Planet Part II that was initially released on TRS-80. A timewarp in space transports you to the year 2190 and places you in a strange city called Futuria. This adventure games pits you against the Futurian Robots bent on your destruction. You must get back to your ship and escape! Along the way you'll explore 60 locations and interact with 100 unique objects. Futuria was developed in 100% native Macintosh machine language and utilizes the Mac's user interface, keyboard commands. A mouse can be used with a customized menu bar to launch and save the game. The gameplay comprises of a mixture of typed commands and graphical stills. The player interacts with the game by typing in commands from the keyboard while a graphical representation of the action and locales display onscreen. | ||
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| Fyleet | Jonathan Partington / Topologika | [top] | |
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Fyleet is the first game that made up a loose trilogy of treasure hunt text adventures (the other two being Crobe and Quest for the Sangraal). The plot: "A few generations ago, the ancient elven kingdom of Fyleet fell. Orcs and hobgoblins, some serving the evil deity Demnos, looted the fortress of Fyleet and took its treasures into their dark chambers beneath. You are an adventurer of great courage and some wits, and have arrived in the area having heard tales of Zygmund, an evil priest of Demnos, a deity bitterly hated by your own god, Hurgenpor..." It's not as good as the subsequent two games in this loose trilogy, but it is still full of similar brand of humor and tough puzzles that make Topologika games memorable. Despite a limited parser, the game has many memorable puzzles. Like most games at the time, the game also has a maze puzzle, although it is more clever than most: the game adds random obstacles on a predetermined layout. If you enjoy treasure-hunting games in the vein of Zork, Fyleet is worth a look. Like most Topologika games, it is a very difficult game that will take you a long time to finish (and get all 600 possible points). Originally released for the Phoenix computer only, the game has now been ported to Inform format thanks to the company who released the source code into the public domain. | ||
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| Hacker | Activision | [top] | |
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Even today, Activision's Hacker games remain two of the best espionage games ever made. The premise of Hacker 1 is novel: you accidentally stumble upon someone else's computer system and can't resist the temptation to hack it (the game even justifies its lack of instructions this way - after all, no one will be there to help you if this actually happens). Consequently, the game opens with a plain text screen, prompting you for the login password. To break into the system is the first puzzle you've got to solve. Once in, you'll soon find out that you've accidentally stumbled upon a conspiracy of global impact. From then on, you'll maneuver a robotic drone around the globe through a tunnel system deep in the earth. In major cities, you may surface and talk to contact persons, who'll trade items for cash. When delivered to the correct city, you can exchange these items for a piece of evidence. If all evidence is collected, you're to inform the FBI. As if figuring out the correct routes and trades wasn't hard enough, frequent system malfunctions and security checks test your skill as well. | ||
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| I, Damiano | Bantam Software | [top] | |
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An interactive fiction game based on a Bantam fantasy novel by R.A. MacAvoy, this was released at a time when book publishers were dipping their toes into the text adventure game market. You play as a young warlock named Damiano Delstrego in a fantastical version of the Italian Renaissance. The angel Raphael gives you lute lessons, while his evil brother Lucifer plans the downfall of your city Partestrada where the villainous General Pardo is about to start a bloody war. Your goal is to find a sacred stone which contains the secret of life in order to save the city. Through the text parser, you type in your actions and your talking dog sidekick who calls you "Master" will give you feedback and hints on your progress. Through a good-evil meter at the top of the screen, you can measure how honorably you are acting or whether you have to resort to accepting Lucifer's help. | ||
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| James Bond 007 in: A View to A Kill | Angelsoft, Inc./ Mindscape Inc. | [top] | |
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In this text-only adventure, you play the daring British secret agent Bond- James Bond. The game follows the plot of the movie of the same name somewhat, but not as faithfully as Goldfinger - it didn't start with a ski chase, for instance, and plot development is rushed. As in the movie, Bond must foil the plot of a diabolical scientist trying to control the world computer market by destroying California's Silicon Valley. This will take him through a lot of nonstop, action-packed sequences that are reproduced in the game pretty well, thanks to real-time puzzles and atmospheric writing. As in the movie, most puzzles require split-second decisions and there is little time to lose. The scene atop San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge is the best. Overall, a good game worthy of a Bond name, although don't expect it to be like the movie. If you want a Bond game that is follows the movie more closely, play Goldfinger instead. | ||
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| Jenny of the Prairie | Rhiannon Software / Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a special relic in video game history, as it was the first game that has been documented as created by women, made for girls and starring a girl. It focuses on a girl who is stranded in the prairie after being separated from her wagon train in 1842. As Jenny, the player must prepare for the coming winter by gathering food and having a warm shelter by the time it get's cold. The historical background and the challenge presented are also meant to foster problem solving skills among children, specifically girls. At the beginning, a choice of three different skill levels is offered, and the player is also asked if he wants to build a lean-to in a clearing, or tame a fox and live in a cave. Afterwards, the main quest for survival starts, in which multiple screens can be explored with the character. Jenny can be moved and interact with the environment via keyboard commands. Scores can be displayed for monitoring progress concerning the collection of firewood, food, and a cape for the winter. Certain actions such as picking up things require the input of words. An example of a useful tool is the spear, which may be used for hunting. The player does not necessarily need to kill animals, as plants also can serve as food sources (berries are an example), but there is wildlife such as a rattlesnake which poses danger and may end the game when Jenny encounters it. | ||
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| Mind Forever Voyaging, A | Steve Meretzky / Infocom | [top] | |
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In this story, you will be PRISM, the world's first sentient machine. It begins in the world of 2031, a world on the brink of chaos. The economy of the United States of North America (USNA) has been stagnating for decades. The superpower race to build an impenetrable missile defense has ended in a tie, with the foreseeable but unforseen result that an even more dangerous arms race has begun - a race to build miniature nuclear weapons, some as small as a cigarette pack, and smuggle them into enemy cities - a race which threatens to turn the USNA into a giant police state. You have been "awakened" from your simulated life and had your true nature revealed to you several years ahead of schedule. You have been chosen to use your unique abilities to enter a simulation of the future, based on the tenents of the Plan, in order to check its effectiveness. Packed full of some of the most detailed writing and developed characters ever found in a computer game, puzzles are few and far between. The game had a serious tone and a political theme. The game is among Infocom's most respected titles, although it was not a commercial success. It was also the first of the "Interactive Fiction Plus" line, meaning that it had greater memory requirements, unlike earlier Infocom games that used a less advanced version of the company's "Z-machine" interpreter. | ||
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| Mist, The: Stephen King's | Angelsoft, Inc./ Mindscape Inc. | [top] | |
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Undoubtedly one of the best IF titles from Angelsoft, this is based on a famous short story by the world's leading horror author Stephen King. The choice of "The Mist" out of all other short stories is quite appropriate, because it is faster-paced and more exciting than most other stories. A brief plot: a strange and deadly mist takes over the small town of Bridgton, near Long Lake, on 17th of July. Some survivors take shelter in a Federal market, but discover they are not safe inside, because the mist is not just mist - it's alive and after them! The game itself follows the short story very closely, so anyone who has read it already knows the ending. The goal, of course, is to find a way to destroy the mist and save the town from being devoured. Puzzles are straightforward and fun, and even exciting because of the constant time limit and atmospheric writing. The game does have one badly designed puzzle near the endgame, where you must kill a creature with your gun. The outcome of each shot is randomized, so you must save and restore numerous times to succeed. Worse, the game gives no hint about this random element, so you may assume that shooting isn't the right solution and try to do something else. This gripe aside, this is a great action-packed adventure that King fans and IF veterans alike will enjoy. A fairly well-done movie adaptation of the story was made in 2007. | ||
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| Orphée: Voyage aux Enfers [Fr] | Loriciels | [top] | |
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It was a hot day. You were returning from a business trip in your sports car. The contract had not signed and you were upset. You sped up your car using its turbo-compressor, lost control and crashed into a truck. You survived, but just barely. You had fallen into a coma. During three years your soul was trapped in a strange place known as the Inferno. In this game the object is to escape the Inferno. You must explore, interact with characters, as well as collect and use inventory items. Above all, you must not fall into Satan's hands. | ||
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| Perry Mason:The Case Of The Mandarin Murder | Paisano Productions / Trillium Corp. | [top] | |
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This text adventure is so well-designed and entertaining that you will gladly put up with Telarium's limited parser. As the shrewd defense attorney Perry Mason, you are hired to defend a woman accused of murdering her husband. In the process, you must investigate the murder, interrogate suspects, analyze clues, then present your case in court to the skeptical jury. Perry Mason is not only addictive because it showcases a well-written plot and believable characters, but most of all because its depiction of court procedure is so realistic it could easily be billed as "lawyer simulation." While collecting and analyzing evidence that will get your client off the hook is not difficult, the real challenge comes in court, where you must carefully phrase your questions to the witness on the stand, and adjust your line of questioning in response to the jury's reaction. You can FROWN to intimidate a witness to open him/her up for more aggressive questions, raise OBJECTION to the prosecutor when you have valid reason to do so, ask witness to DESCRIBE their relationship with other suspects, and show various evidence to the witness to provoke a desired response. It is nothing short of amazing that Telarium's parser, which is in many ways inferior to Infocom's, was more than adequate to handle this intriguing game. If the going gets tough, you can ask Della, your trusty assistance, for advice on what to do. There's simply no other game like it. For all its tough challenge and grainy CGA graphics, Perry Mason perfectly captures the essense of a defense attorney's work. | ||
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| Pride and Prejudice | Jon Williams, Steve Perrin, John Calhoun / Baen Software | [top] | |
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This text adventure is based on the novel of the English writer Jane Austen, published in 1813 and in a somewhat ironic vein, tells about the life of secular society of that time. The work received more than one film adaptation, including with the participation of star Hollywood actors, but very few people probably know that there was also a computer game based on it. We act as a girl entering the high society, whose year and month of birth you can choose in the proposed range (from March to September 1795-1820), and enter the name yourself. Next, we determine one of three difficulty levels - and proceed to the distribution of parameters that are randomly numerically attached to five characteristics: beauty, intelligence, horseback riding, ballroom dancing and music making. If something doesn’t work, you can transfer the virtual cube. That's it, the creation of the character is completed (in the event that there are several live players, this will have to be repeated as many times as necessary, up to six). Then we are introduced to the list of grooms, because the conclusion of a profitable game is the key task of the game. But we also have a number of competitors, whose talents will also be preliminarily introduced. And now there is only fifteen weeks left to get married in the most profitable way: best of all for a young and wealthy nobleman, since such an outcome will bring the maximum number of points in the final. One week is one move, during which we can choose what to do. Absolutely always you can go to tea to the Duchess, listen to gossip about the "men" and dissolve your own. This information is useful for building a successful strategy. Other activities range from home parties to horseback riding, and everywhere you should try to demonstrate your strengths in order to impress the gentlemen and attract their attention. And even if the romantic relationship was officially registered before the end of the playing time, this still does not guarantee victory - the competitors for the remaining time can manage to marry someone more enviable. The game is completely textual, most of the time you will only have to enter the numbers corresponding to the desired options, and only occasionally type something from the keyboard. | ||
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| Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man | Adventure International / Load'N'Go Software | [top] | |
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The second Questprobe adventure moves on from the 'verb noun' command interface of The Hulk and allows fuller sentence inputs. The in-game graphics also see some degree of advancement. You play Spider-Man, Peter Parker's crime-fighting alter-ego, as he takes on Mysterio, who can block out Parker's Spidery senses using his canisters of poison. As in The Hulk, the Examiner plays a key part in the game, as he initially strips Spider-Man's knowledge and prepares him for the battle. Throughout the game you meet many familiar Marvel characters, using the clues in the provided guidebook to help you deal with these situations correctly. | ||
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| Rambo:First Blood Part II | Angelsoft /Mindscape | [top] | |
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Well, there's nothing much to say about this text adventure. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what to expect. And don't expect difficult puzzles - Rambo isn't known as the smartest man on earth (or even smartest monkey, for that matter). Your job is to use your trusty machine gun to liberate POW's in Vietnam. That's really about it, although some puzzles do require more thought than Rambo is capable of (that's why he needs your help, I guess). The game does try to be atmospheric, but the effect is rather awkward - after all, typing "SHOOT MAN" doesn't give you nearly as much Rambo-like adrenaline rush as actually blasting the enemies in action games. Probably a good example of the limits of interactive fiction. A good effort that's worth playing if you're curious, especially since the game is quite short. If you want a real Rambo experience, though, play shoot-em-ups instead. | ||
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| Rendezvous With Rama | Trillium Corp. | [top] | |
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This is a disappointing game based on Arthur C. Clarke's classic sci-fi novel of the same name. As captain of the ship, your task is to dock with and explore Rama, a huge alien vessel complete with large cities and strange mechanical inhabitants. The parser is adequate, although nothing special. You are in command of several crew members, whom you can ask for advice (not very helpful) or order to do your bidding. Interactions with your crew and other characters, however, are minimal, and most of the time you will be staring at vast areas of Rama that are depressingly devoid of life. Puzzles center around finding use for various alien gadgets you find, but solving them requires a lot of trial-and-error as there are very little clues. Boring writing, uninspired graphics, and lack of player interaction make this game another waste of a famous literary license. Play Sierra's CD-ROM game Rama instead for a much more authentic and enjoyable adventure. | ||
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| Robot Odyssey | The Learning Co. | [top] | |
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This is an educational logic adventure game. You have been taken into Robotropolis, an underground city of robots. To escape, you must program your robot helpers Sparky, Checkers, and Scanner to solve the puzzles and escape. The engine for the game was written by Warren Robinett, and variants of it were used in many of The Learning Company's graphical adventure games of the time, including Rocky's Boots, Gertrude's Secrets, Gertrude's Puzzles, and Think Quick!, all of which are similar but easier logic puzzle games. The gameplay and visual design were derived from Robinett's influential Atari 2600 video game, Adventure. A Java port was later released called Droid Quest. | ||
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| Shadowkeep, Alan Dean Foster's | Trillium Corp. | [top] | |
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Shadowkeep is a superb but highly underrated graphical text adventure for 8-bit computers that is the best cross between interactive fiction and RPG genres ever made. Telarium not only managed to translate RPG mechanics to interactive fiction format (thank to a robust text parser), but even made it an epic adventure with a well-crafted fantasy story. In fact, the game is so good that it inspired a book of the same name by Alan Dean Foster - the very first novelization of a computer game in history that is written by a major sci-fi author. :) The plot goes as follows: the mighty Shadowkeep was seized by a demon, who now threatens to engulf the earth. As the Earth's best hope, you lead a team of nine adventurers who must invade the tower, overcome its guardians, and defeat the dark lord. Although this sounds mundane, the game itself is much better than the story, featuring well-designed mazes, creative monsters (including "death sheep"), and excellent writing and interface. In a great design choice, several common RPG elements such as buying weapons/spells, combat command, and character creation are handled via prompt windows instead. As in a typical dungeon romp, the deeper you go in the keep, the more dangerous your quest becomes. Character growth and acquiring more powerful magical artifacts are crucial to success. Fortunately, each of the keep's nine 16x16 mazes offers its own special rewards including weapons, spell scrolls, and passwords to other mazes. Like your own party, monsters in Shadowkeep vary widely in such attributes as strength, dexterity, and the ability to use magic. Traditional adventure-style puzzles are better than average, although if you finished Zork on your own you shouldn't have a problem with any of them. This game is very rare on the PC. | ||
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| Sherlock Holmes: Another Bow | Bantam Software Imagic | [top] | |
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The first Sherlock Holmes PC game and first in the short-lived "Living Literature" series by Bantam Software of interactive fiction titles. In this original story, an aging Holmes in his 60's becomes involved in a murder mystery aboard the steamship S.S. Destiny. As his mind is not as sharp now, he will rely on you the player as his longtime companion Dr. Watson to help him with the investigation, though he will give you advice throughout. There are dozens of characters (including famous real-life figures such as escapist artist Houdini, Gertrude Stein, Sir Lawrence of Arabia, Picasso and Thomas Edison) to observe, follow and spy on and determine who may be a suspect during the time limited game. There are 6 smaller cases within the whole mystery which must be solved in order to arrive at the final truth. | ||
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| Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter | Sierra On-Line | [top] | |
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Space Quest is a series of science fiction computer games that follow the
adventures of a hapless janitor named Roger Wilco, as he campaigns through the galaxy
for "truth, justice and really clean floors." Initially created for Sierra On-Line
by Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy (who called themselves the Two Guys from Andromeda),
the games parodied both science fiction properties such as Star Wars and Star Trek,
as well as pop-culture phenomena from McDonald's to Microsoft. The series featured
a silly sense of humor heavily reliant on puns and wacky storylines. Roger is a member
of the cleaning crew onboard the scientific spaceship "Arcada", which holds a powerful experimental device called the "Star Generator" (a thinly-veiled reference to the
Genesis Device from Star Trek II). Roger emerges from an on-duty nap in a broom closet
to find the ship has been taken over by the sinister Sariens. He must make his escape,
survive a crash-landing on the desert planet Kerona, and ultimately sneak aboard the
Sarien starship Deltaur to stop the vicious aliens from using the Star Generator
against Roger's home planet of Xenon. The game was programmed using Sierra's AGI
engine and featured a pseudo-3D environment, allowing the character to move in front
of and behind background objects. The original Space Quest game quickly became a
hit, selling in excess of 100,000 copies (sales are believed to be around 200,000 to
date, not including the many compilations it has been included in). It was remade
and re-released in 1991.
Also see: #Space Quest 1 VGA |
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| Spellbreaker | Marc Blank and Dave Lebling / Infocom | [top] | |
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Spellbreaker is the second entry in the Enchanter Trilogy, a series set in the Zork universe, except casting you as a magic user than a clueless adventurer. This is a world founded on magic, where guilds of magicians have mastered the powers of sorcery; a world now threatened with destruction. You distinguished yourself among the young Enchanters by defeating the evil warlock Krill, whose attempt to subjugate the land was thwarted by your cleverness, as your inexperience allowed you to succeed where others might have failed. This earned you a place on the Circle of Enchanters, second only to the great Belboz the Necromancer. Then Belboz himself was nearly destroyed, and your rescue of him from the evil demon Jeearr earned you the ultimate honor given a mage, the leadership of the Circle of Enchanters. Now, a crisis has befallen the kingdom. Magic itself seems to be failing. Spells fail to work or go strangely awry, the populace is confused and restive, and even the Enchanters Guild is baffled. A great conclave of the Guildmasters is ordained, and it is at this conclave that the final conflict between good and evil begins to unfold. | ||
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| Spy Snatcher | Jonathan Partington and Jonathan Thackray / Topologika Software Ltd. | [top] | |
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Easily one of best Topologika games, SpySnatcher is a great spy thriller that casts you as agent 3084, working on a (what else) secret mission for MI7, the British intelligence agency. You have just been summoned to MI7 headquarters, popularly known as 'The Zoo', in order to unmask a 'mole'. The chief of MI7, Sir Arthur Cayley (known to his friends as 'Z') is extremely worried, because the plains for the new Sonic Maxeothrodule are believed to have been leaked. They were kept in his office safe, and were there yesterday when he arrived at 9 a.m.; the safe had been disturbed when he checked it in the morning but the plans were still there. Z reckons that it would take at least an hour to remove the plans, copy them, and return them. That's how much time you have to find out who the mole is and report the results of your investion to Cayley and Superintendent Hardy, who are off to enjoying their drinks at a bar. It recalls Infocom's later Border Zone and Magnetic Scrolls' Corruption in its masterful storytelling, with appropriate spy gadgets and plenty of atmosphere. The writing ranks among Partington's best, although non-player characters are not as well defined as in Infocom games (a common failing for Topologika). In contrast to Topologika's typical "pure puzzle" approach, SpySnatcher emphasizes plot development almost as much as the puzzles, which are some of the most enjoyable for entrepreneur sleuths everywhere. This is definitely a must play for fans of Topologika, and a worthy challenge for expert sleuths. Be warned, though: in common with Topologika games, SpySnatcher is hard - don't expect to solve it in a few hours. In 1999, it was made freeware. | ||
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| Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative | Micromosaics / Simon & Schuster Interactive | [top] | |
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This sequel to Promethean Prophecy is text-based Star Trek adventure that's quite difficult to play and even more difficult to finish. It's quite fun, though, and well-implemented. Using the same interface from its predecessor, you can order the various members of the crew (Spock, McCoy, etc.) to do their duties. Be very patient and experiment a lot-- most of the solutions to puzzles in this game depend on knowing what each member of the Enterprise crew is capable of. Overall, an average sequel to Promethean Prophecy that has worse writing and more confusing puzzles. A must-have only for Trekkies and die-hard adventurers. A later 1987 version has an expanded script and enhanced graphics. | ||
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| Treasure Island | Byron Preiss Video Productions, Inc. / Windham Classics / Telarium | [top] | |
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Louis Stevenson's classic, Treasure Island, is probably the most famous pirate tale of all time. The protagonist, a boy named Jim Hawkins, acquires a map to an infamous pirate's hoarded treasure, and he and his friends set out to find it. They enlist the help of several sea-faring men, among them a chef by the name of Long John Silver. Of course, things are not as simple as they original seem, and before long, Jim finds himself embroiled in a web of intrigue, deceit, and danger. This game based on that book has mixed qualities. On one hand, it is rather enjoyably faithful to the book, but on the other hand, there are some scenes that one would not really know the significance of unless he had read the book. The first couple chapters, in particular, seem to have some parts like that. Some of these scenes are optional, though, and it seems that some of the puzzles had multiple solutions, which is always an interesting thing to see in older text games. The game doesn't successfully present the book's somewhat complex intrigues and manipulations but rather only alludes to them lightly. This, though, is partially remedied by a likeable depiction of Long John Silver. Overall, there are a lot of nice touches that help one get into the feel of the game, and the internal speaker music isn't half bad, either. | ||
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| Trekboer | Bob Withers & Stephen O'Dea / Mark Data Products | [top] | |
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In mid-1980s, a small company called Mark Data Products released 6 parser-based graphic adventure games similar to early Polarware and Scott Adams titles. While the games are reasonably successful on Tandy's CoCo computer, the IBM PC versions did not achieve the same level of success. While the graphics are quite good at the time, the parser is quite primitive - only simple verb+noun constructs such as GET HAT are understood, and some verbs that are common in IF games such as SEARCH are not always recognized. Fortunately, the games make up for primitive parser with well-written plot, fun characters, and some clever puzzles. The plot of Trekboer: "This exciting adventure begins abord the starship TREKBOER in the 21st century. Life on Earth is threatened by a deadly virus and your mission is to search the frontiers of space for the cure that will save mankind from disaster. But how? Where? The name of your starship provides the first clue." Thanks to the generosity of Bob Withers, co-creator, both the games and their source codes are up on his website for free download. | ||
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| Utopia [MAC] | Unicorn Software | [top] | |
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This is an enhanced port of William Demas' 1981 TRS-80 game Forbidden Planet Part I. The biggest change is the removal of the original game's digitized voice effects, and the addition of graphics, created by Craig Sadler. It's a bit of a genre hybrid - it starts aboard a space cruiser, with the ship's alarm sounding, but eventually the player will encounter fantasy motifs, with ogres and a centaur planetside. All life in your galaxy is slowly coming to an end. The only hope for mankind is to locate and colonize the plentiful haven of UTOPIA. As an experienced space explorer your government has assigned you the task of finding the legendary haven. You begin the most important mission of your life and set your ship's course for UTOPIA. The ship's alarm sounds. You are forced to crash land on a strange planet with UTOPIA just across a magical lake in the distance. While attempting to discover the secret of crossing the lake, you encounter many treacherous obstacles and mystical creatures. As you journey through the petrified forest, underground rivers, swamps and caves you must gather over 80 objects to aid you in your quest. Part 2 was released on MAC as Futuria. | ||
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| Voodoo Island | Angelsoft, Inc. / Mindscape, Inc. | [top] | |
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Voodoo Island is a slight variation on the "Most Dangerous Game" story, set on a remote island. Your task is to destroy the evil Dr. Beauvias is brewing, while avoiding dangerous voodoo rituals and black magic practiced by the local population. The parser is almost identical to the one used in Forbidden Castle, which is to say it's quite adequate for the game's puzzles. And speaking of puzzles, these are not your garden variety of find-key-X-to-unlock-door-Y type: as one might expect from a game about exotic rituals, you'll find strange yet logical puzzles that involve many elements of Voodoo rituals. The game is also a nice change from Angelsoft's usually frenetic games (e.g. High Stakes) where actions must be done within a limited number of turns. Here, you can explore the island at your leisure most of the time, taking in nice descriptions of the scenery and people. In summary, Voodoo Island is a nice piece of IF that doesn't introduce anything new, but is a well-written game that will give you a few relaxing hours. The game might also interest fans of Sierra's Gabriel Knight 1 due to a similar occult premise. | ||
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| Vortex Factor, The | Bob Withers & Stephen O'Dea / Mark Data Products | [top] | |
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In mid-1980s, a small company called Mark Data Products released 6 parser-based graphic adventure games similar to early Polarware and Scott Adams titles. While the games are reasonably successful on Tandy's CoCo computer, the IBM PC versions did not achieve the same level of success. While the graphics are quite good at the time, the parser is quite primitive - only simple verb+noun constructs such as GET HAT are understood, and some verbs that are common in IF games such as SEARCH are not always recognized. Fortunately, the games make up for primitive parser with well-written plot, fun characters, and some clever puzzles. The plot of The Vortex Factor: "What is it? What secrets does it hold? The seeker of treasures through time and space must find out! From the coliseum of ancient Rome to the futuristic world of tomorrow ... join us in this unforgettable odyssey." Thanks to the generosity of Bob Withers, co-creator, both the games and their source codes are up on his website for free download. | ||
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| Wishbringer | Brian Moriarty / Infocom | [top] | |
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Wishbringer is probably the most underrated game to have sprung from the fertile imagination Brian "Professor" Moriarty, of Loom fame. In contrast with Moriarty's earlier philosophical classic Trinity, Wishbringer is a whimsical, light-hearted fantasy game designed with IF beginners in mind. You begin as a mail clerk in the Festeron Post Office, who is sent to deliver a letter to the Magick Shoppe at the other end of town. When you leave the Shoppe you discover that its owner has slipped you the Wishbringer stone, and that the town of Festeron has changed into a dark caricature of itself called Witchville. As you explore, you find that the former items and occupants of the town have transformed into twisted alter egos of themselves. Naturally, your mission is to defeat the Evil One and your boss, Mr. Crisp, and to transform the town back into Festeron, with the help of the Wishbringer stone, some friendly platypii, and your own raw wits. In keeping with it being a "beginner's game," the puzzles are very easy, and most of them have multiple solutions, solvable either through reasoning, or using the Wishbringer stone to wish for some sort of aid. The stone has limitations, however: if you rely too much on the wishes, you may fail to acquire items that you may need to solve later puzzles. As in Moriarty's other works, the town of Festeron is vividly depicted in detailed descriptions, full of colorful and unique characters. While the puzzles are easy, they are not typical - the solutions to many of them are quite creative, even when solved with the Wishbringer stone. In the end, Wishbringer is one of the most fondly remembered games among die-hard Infocom fans, although it remains relatively unknown to the masses (despite sharing the same fantasy world as the immensely popular Zork trilogy). If you are a novice IF fan and prefer a "gentle" game that you can play leisurely without worrying about grues lurking in the shadows, or if you have never played an IF before and want to be introduced to the fabulous world of interactive fiction, it's the perfect choice. | ||
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| Wizard Of Oz, The | Telarium / Windham Classics | [top] | |
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Telarium's 1985 release, Wizard of Oz, seems to be entirely inspired by the famous Judy Garland movie and has very little to do with the L. Frank Baum books. At first, the game suffers severely by following much too closely to the movie (although it's interesting to try to click your heels as soon as you get the ruby slippers), but as it progresses and the plot diverges, it becomes more and more enjoyable. Before you know it, you find yourself in a rather cute adventure. For the most part, in the Telarium tradition, the puzzles are quite easy but there are a couple head-scratchers. Always keep in mind what characters are with you as the game doesn't always remind you, and like in the Infocom text games, >NAME, COMMAND is the proper way to talk to NPCs. Overall, I'd say this is a fun, easy game that will be especially enjoyable to young children and Wizard of Oz fans. | ||
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Adventure related
| Agent USA | Tom Snyder Productions, Inc. / Scholastic, Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a geography enhancement game that centers around a character that travels by train to different U.S. cities. The object of the game is to find the "FuzzBomb" which turns ordinary people into "FuzzBodies". You plant crystals which regenerate into newer crystals, and when you build up 100 of them and touch the FuzzBomb, the nation is saved. In 2001, a free fan-made remake was made by Lothlorien. | ||
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| Beyond Castle Wolfenstein | Muse Software | [top] | |
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The sequel to Muse's revolutionary Castle Wolfenstein follows the same basic formula as the predecessor, while adding a host of new features that make gameplay more complex. The plot follows where the first game left off: the brass at allieds headquarters are so impressed with your heroics in Castle Wolfenstein that they send you on a mission to assassinate Hitler. You must locate some explosives and set them outside Hitler's council room, then escape with your life. The new features make it even more innovative than the predecessor. You can now collect security passes, which can be used to give to the guards to gain access to rooms. You can also bribe them with money if you don't have the pass, although at higher levels they are more difficult to bribe. You must also now be more careful when you kill the guards: if you leave any witnesses to the crime, they will ring the alarm, alerting tough, bullet-proofed Nazis to your location. Fortunately, you can now sneak into a room, and kill the guard from behind silently with a dagger. You can also find tool boxes and first-aid kits in supply closets, and you will be alarms to disable and guards to bribe. Unfortunately, you can no longer toss grenades and hold the SS guards at gunpoint, although all the new features more than make up for the inexplicable absence of these features. It improves upon Castle Wolfenstein in every respect. With the addition of alarms and dagger, you can no longer afford the "shoot everything in sight" tactic of the original. This makes BCW probably the world's first "thinking man's action game." | ||
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| Crosscountry USA | Didatech | [top] | |
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Cross Country USA is a 1985 edutainment videogame by Didatech. Developed for the PC, the purpose of the game is to pick up commodities from one city and deliver them to another by driving across the country. Players interacted with the game through a command line using commands such as "turn on truck". This game was the American counterpart to Cross Country Canada and Crosscountry Canada 2. | ||
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Kids
| Clowning Around | Learning Technologies Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a memory where the player is given 16 spaces where 5 different items are seeded randomly. A few seconds are allowed to memorize their location, and then the spaces become blank. The player must locate the item displayed on the bottom right of the screen by maneuvering a clown to the correct number of the item's location. The goal is to discover all 16 hidden items. There are five item categories: fruit, fish, insects, flowers, and digits. | ||
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| Learning to Add and Subtract | Learning Technologies Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a math game for multiple systems that contains three educational games: Learning to add - Practicing sums up to 9 with pictures; Learning to Subtract - Practicing differences with numbers up to 9; A Different Way of Adding - Practices all sums up to 9. Each correct answer builds a rocketship, which launches when all sums are complete. | ||
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| Up & Add 'Em / Learn To Add | ChildWare Corporation / Fisher-Price Learning Software, Spinnaker Software Corporation | [top] | |
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This is an educational game designed for children ages 3 - 7 designed to help teach addition skills. In the game players have the goal of creating a rainbow by solving addition problems. Each turn begins with players highlighting a number from 1 through 9 located along the bottom of the screen; Once a number is selected, the program presents a math problem which incorporates the selected number. In the middle of the screen several groupings of varying numbers of balloons appear; players need to guide an animal to the group containing the correct number of balloons to fill in the blank(s) in the math problem. If the selected answer is correct, the a section of a rainbow appears. Players win the game when enough problems are answered correctly for the rainbow to span the entire screen. The game includes four different skill levels. On easiest skill levels, only symbols are shown instead of numbers and players just need to match an available choice with the example at the top of the screen. On medium skill levels and above actual numbers are shown. At first players only need to provide the sum for the equation, and then on the most difficult levels, one or more blank spaces can appear anywhere in the equation. | ||
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| Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? | Brøderbund Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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Carmen Sandiego is a master thief who leads the criminal organization V.I.L.E. This organization specializes in stealing the world's treasures without a trace. Alarmed by this, the A.C.M.E. Detective Agency makes it their personal mission to foil Carmen Sandiego's plans. Carmen Sandiego is an game that tests the player's knowledge about geography and general knowledge about different countries. Missions will begin with a treasure being stolen and the player flying to that location. A time limit counts down while they must search the area and interview witnesses to find enough clues to figure out what country the thief flew to next. The player always has a limited selection (usually three or four) of flights available in any given country. This process is repeated until either the villain is found or time expires and they are able to get away. Along with finding out where the thief has headed, the player must discover who the thief is, by best matching personal characteristics (gender, hair color, eye color, hobbies, notable features) to dossiers on Carmen's gang. There must be enough characteristics matched in order to obtain a warrant, which is essential to legally arrest the suspect once they have been found. Progress in arresting VILE members will expose other members, eventually leading up to Carmen Sandiego herself. This game was made into a book and two different television game shows on both PBS and Fox. There have been several versions released over the years - Deluxe version was released in 1990 and featured additional animation, high-resolution VGA graphics, digitized sound effects, new locations, and a reworked interface. A CD-ROM version for DOS was released in 1992, and a Windows version in 1994. | ||
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| Winnie The Pooh In The Hundred Acre Wood | Al Lowe / Sierra Entertainment | [top] | |
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Early this morning, a strong wind went through the hundred acre wood and picked up many objects and scattered them about. It is your job to locate all the objects, determine who the proper owners are, and return them. You better hurry though, before the wind returns again. Along the way you'll meet all the familiar Winnie The Pooh characters including Eeyore, Owl, Tigger, and Piglet. The games interface involves no typing, instead the cursor keys are used to choose from a list of actions specific to the current location or situation, pick up and drop objects, and navigate around the hundred acre wood. Al Lowe created this kid's educational adventure with the same game engine used for Troll's Tale. | ||
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| Young Math | Elmer Larsen / Stone & Associates | [top] | |
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This is an edutainment math game where there are a number of games to play within it, all having to do with numbers. It's designed for ages 4-8. A revised version 2.2 came out in 1990. | ||
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Role-Playing Games
| Amulet of Yendor | Keypunch Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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This fantasy adventure has the player exploring a castle in search of treasures. The castle is an eight-by-eight-by-eight grid, with eight levels containing sixty-four rooms each. Its contents are randomized at the start of each game. There are eight major treasures to seek (including the palintir and the silmaril) and twelve monster types to avoid (from pitiful kobolds to might dragons); players can choose from four different character races (elf, dwarf, man or hobbit) and, with sufficient intelligence, can cast three different spells (web, fireball and deathspell). After picking a race, distributing attribute scores and spending money to gain weapons, armor and other equipment, the player enters the castle. Rooms are portrayed by short textual descriptions and grid numbers showing where they fit into the grand scheme of things. Gameplay consists of typing simple text commands to move, fight and gather treasure. A map is automatically generated during play, but it can only be viewed for a brief moment at a time before it disappears off the screen (even on very slow computers). | ||
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| Cavequest | Lightwave Consultants | [top] | |
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Cavequest is an action-oriented fantasy role-playing game. Zeus has chosen you to leave the Land of the Gods and become mortal on Earth. Before beginning your quest, you are given life points to configure your intelligence, charisma, strength, dexterity, stamina, and wizard skills. Unlike some traditional role-playing games of the time, you have complete control over your attributes. Once you have configured your character, you travel from the Land of the Gods to Earth. After outfitting your equipment at the Armory and magical items at the Witches Lair, you choose one of the five levels of the cave. Life points are gained by killing monsters and collecting treasures in caves. They can be used to enhance your character's attributes or be converted to silver for additional purchases. While in the caves, you will encounter skeletons, giant bats, giant bugs, giant leeches, giant rats, great slimes, lizardmen, antmen, giant squids, and zombies. Be careful to not do too much at one time, or else you may drain your stamina and become too tired to hit the monsters! | ||
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| Phantasie | Strategic Simulations, Inc. | [top] | |
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The island of Gelnor has been taken over by The Black Knights, who demand sacrifices and homage as they travel from town to town. Defeat them and their master, Nikademus! Phantasie is a classic role-playing game, and one of the first to introduce a "bank" for storing money in addition to expanding on the classic Wizardry-style gameplay of building your own adventuring party with traveling from town to town via the countryside, overhead views of dungeons, and multiple styles of attack. | ||
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| Telengard | The Avalon Hill Game Company | [top] | |
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Telengard is an earlier example of a "dungeon crawler" role-playing game--albeit with a top-down view- with either real time movement (DOS version) or turn-based movement and turn based combat. Telengard is also played in real time, which means that monsters can attack even when the player's character is not moving. The player controls a single adventurer, selecting randomly-rolled sets of attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, and Charisma. The vast Telengard dungeon consists of 50 levels down and 200 by 200 rooms each level. Experience is awarded not only for defeating enemies, but also for finding treasure. When the player character gains a level, their attributes increase, and they gain the ability to cast higher-leveled spells. Treasure chests appear randomly in the dungeon. There are also specific features such as altars, thrones, fountains, etc. that the adventurer can discover which may have various effects on the character, whether being either positive or negative. Some creatures will befriend the player, sometimes providing the player with an item and/or healing them, provided the player's Charisma is high enough. | ||
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| Temple of Apshai Trilogy | Epyx, Inc. / Keypunch Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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The Temple of Apshai Trilogy includes updated graphical versions of three classic Apshai games: Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai, Dunjonquest: Upper Reaches of Apshai and Dunjonquest: Curse of Ra. | ||
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| Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar | ORIGIN Systems, Inc. | [top] | |
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Following the defeat of the evil triad in the previous three Ultima games, the world of Sosaria changed beyond recognition: continents rose and sank, and new cities were built, heralding the advent of a different civilization. Unified by the reign of the benevolent monarch Lord British, the new world was renamed Britannia. Lord British wished to base people's well-being on the ethical principles of Truth, Love, and Courage, proclaiming the Eight Virtues (Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality, and Humility) as the ideal everyone should strive for. The person who could accomplish full understanding and realization of these virtues would serve as a spiritual leader and a moral example for the inhabitants of Britannia; he alone would be able to obtain holy artifacts, descend into the Stygian Abyss, and access the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom. This person is the Avatar. The fourth game in the Ultima series features an improved game engine, with color graphics and enhanced character interaction: the player can have conversations with non-playable characters by typing names of various topics. However, the main difference between Ultima IV and its predecessors in the series (as well as other role-playing games) lies in the game's objectives and the ways to fulfill them. Ultima IV also introduces several new gameplay features to the series and role-playing games in general. A number of initially non-playable characters living in various areas of the game world are able to to join the party and fight alongside the hero, replacing traditional player-generated characters or mercenaries and adventurers available only in special locations. Additional new elements include buying and combining reagents in order to cast spells, unique items such as grapple to pass through mountains, puzzle rooms in dungeons, and others. See also: #Ultima Collection | ||
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| Wizardry: Knight of Diamonds - The Second Scenario | Andrew Greenberg, Inc., Robert Woodhead, Inc. / Sir-tech Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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The sequel to the original Wizardry follows the defeat of the evil Werdna and the return of Mad Overlord Trebor's amulet. The heroes who had accomplished that were inducted into Trebor's personal honor guard. Unfortunately this particular honor didn't last very long as Trebor's madness and obsession with the amulet and preventing Werdna's return drove him to suicide. With both Trebor and Werdna dead all seemed well within the kingdom of Llylgamyn. Unfortunately, this peace didn't last very long. With Werdna dead and out of the limelight, an evil knight named Davalpus felt it was time to make his move. He stormed the castle, slaughtered the royal family, and declared himself supreme dictator for life. The Prince of the land fought and killed Davalpus using the legendary Staff of Gnilda and wearing the armor of the Knight of Diamonds. However, the god Gnilda took the staff back and placed it deep within his heavily guarded six-level temple. Since the staff's power protects the land from invasion by hostile outlanders, someone will need to venture into the temple and get it back along with Gnilda's blessing. Knight of Diamonds uses the same basic engine and graphics as its predecessor. The player creates a party of up to six characters from a choice of fantasy races and classes, and takes it to explore a large maze-like dungeon, fighting random enemies in turn-based first-person perspective combat. The player has the option of transferring characters from the previous installment, or (in a later version of the game) generating new characters from scratch. As opposed to the predecessor, it is possible to save the game in the dungeon. Also, unlike the first game, all the six levels of the dungeon must be explored. Each level contains a piece of the armor of the Knight of Diamonds, assembling which is essential for completing the game. See also: #Wizardry: Lylgamyn Saga [J] |
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Casual Games
| Boulder Dash II: Rockford's Revenge | First Star Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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In part two of the "Boulder Dash" series, game design hasn't changed compared to part one, so you still have to mine diamonds while avoiding falling rocks and cave monsters of all sorts. As in part one, later levels become more difficult because many puzzle elements are added. | ||
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| Creative Contraptions | Looking Glass Software, Inc. / Bantam Software | [top] | |
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Similar in concept to the later (and better known) Incredible Machine series, this is all about creating silly machines from wacky parts to accomplish even wackier tasks. The puzzles consist of Rube Goldberg contraptions with wrong or missing parts, and the player must figure out the correct replacements - from basic devices such as pulleys and ramps to absurd objects like elephants, cannons and boxing gloves. Three game modes are available: in the first, you pick a goal for your contraption, and your job is to fill in the basic mechanisms; the second puts you in charge of the "Zany Objects". The real challenge lies in third mode (Contraption Mix-Up), which takes you through a sequence of puzzles, complete with a time limit and a scoring system - the fewer mistakes you make, the more points you earn. Each sub-game can be played in two difficulty levels, and there's also a tutorial which explains (and demonstrates) how the basic mechanisms work. | ||
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| Cyrus | Intelligent Chess Software Ltd. | [top] | |
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One of the world's first chess games designed for experts, Cyrus is also unfortunately one of the least known due to limited distribution. The IBM version can be played from a isometric 3-D perspective, or a traditional boring 2-D overhead view. There is a clock, which can be turned on or off. You can view analysis mode, examine game, or watch the computer play itself. The game has 16 difficulty levels. | ||
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| Gambler | Keypunch Software | [top] | |
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This game allows you to play three different gambling games with Hours of Family Fun. Black Jack - Stay with the odds, the cards will never do you wrong. Solitaire - Can't cheat in this game. Keno - A popular game in Las Vegas. Now coming to your home! Go for broke, but follow the odds. | ||
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| Golden Oldies Volume 1: Computer Software Classics | Software Toolworks, Inc., The / Electronic Arts, Inc. | [top] | |
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Probably the first retro-collection ever foisted upon the buying public. A collection of four classic computer games (well, three computer games and an adaptation of an electronic video game.) Play Eliza, Conway's Life, Crowther's Adventure, or Al Alcorn's Pong. All four games are liberal adaptations - there is no standard Eliza, and this version seems to lack compared to others. Pong is an ASCII rendition of the game (and includes a remake with color!). Life, however, includes various pre-formed populations, including the infamous glider-gun that figures prominently in Steven Levy's book Hackers. | ||
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| Missing Letters | IBM | [top] | |
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Designed as a letter and word game in which the user guesses the missing letters or words to score points. Find out interesting facts - about food, sports, animals, travel... and more. Learn new words with rhymes, riddles or twistogram teasers. Create original passages with the Editor. For ages 8 and up. | ||
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| Pinball Construction Set | BudgeCo / Electronic Arts, Inc. | [top] | |
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Pinball Construction Set is considered the first construction set game that launched the concept and genre. Construct a pinball game by dropping parts onto the table (or alter the table itself). Alter world physics like gravity, bounce, kick, and speed. Paint custom backboards. Wire together targets for specials and bonus points. Finally, save creations for later, or generate a self-loading version of the table to distribute to friends (original program not needed to play). | ||
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| Pipeline | Learning Technologies Inc. | [top] | |
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In this puzzle game, water comes from a faucet into a grid-like field. Throughout the field are several items that require water, including: fish, pools, fountains, and washing machines. The player must select from 8 different types of pipe segments, and place them on the grid to make sure water goes to every item on the screen. There are 3 difficulty levels, and players can choose to have each level timed. After the player starts the water, the water is seen advancing through the pipes. Regardless of the player bringing water to all items on the screen, they are brought to a new challenge after this. | ||
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| Quink | Ron Dubren and Associates / CBS Software | [top] | |
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This is a puzzle game for one or two players. In each round of the game, eight names, places, or objects will appear on the screen that will be associated in some way. Out of the eight items, two to six will not be related to the others. The player needs to identify which item(s) are loners and remove them from the list in the given time limit. For each wrong guess the player will lose a life; if three lives are lost, the game ends. Points are awarded for correctly identifying loners; each round contains a goal score, so even if the player completes a round without losing all three lives the goal still needs to be met to proceed onto the next round. In addition to the regular gameplay rounds, there are also two types of challenge rounds: the single loner challenge, and the matchmaker challenge. In the single loner challenge there will be only one loner in the set; the goal is to identify it as quickly as possible. A correct choice earns bonus points, or the round ends when an incorrect selection is made or time runs out. In the matchmaker challenge, there are nine items displayed; the player needs to find out which item matches the one displayed in the center of the board. Correct choices earn bonus points. Quink includes several subject areas, each of which have numerous categories that items may be associated by. The categories are: Fame - includes categories such as Real Names of Movie Stars, Famous Generals, Leaders of Nations, TV Sportscasters, Sci-Fi Writers, and more; Pop Culture - includes Dances, Monopoly Avenues, Toys, Mixed Drinks, TV Westerns, Airlines, and more; Imagination - includes Music Terms, Onomatopoeia, Operas, Theft Talk, Poetic License, Bookish Things, Cartoon Curses, and more; Science and Nature - includes Computer Lingo, Diseases, Vegetables, Knots, Birds, Metals, Parts of a Cell, and more; General Knowledge - Seas, Cheeses, Martial Arts Forms, National Parks, Longest Rivers, Ancient Greeks, and more; Mixed Bag - All of the above subject areas are included at the same time. The game includes several gameplay options which adjust the difficulty and time limits. There is also an advanced play mode; in this mode the player must indicate when all loners have been removed instead of the game indicating such automatically. | ||
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| Strategy Games | Keypunch Software Inc. | [top] | |
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Yet another compilation by Keypunch in which the company essentially stole freelance designers' works (most released as freeware or shareware on various BBS's), took out all credits, and sold them as the company's own games. That the company was able to do this unchallenged in mid-1980s is telling of how much the Internet resembled a lawless "wild west" in its early days ;) This contains five games: Ruler - Become an ancient day Napoleon and rule your own country; Killer Bees - What are YOU going to do? A raging swarm of Killer Bees is attacking your country; Engineer - Become head engineer of a multi-billion dollar bridge construction site. Remember time IS money; Sabotage - Undermine the plot of some terrorists, while searching through a top secret nuclear plant; Vampire - A text adventure where the count is thirsty; you're his next vic- tim. Can you solve the riddle of his castle? | ||
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