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Adventures
| Adventure Games | Public Brand Software (PBS) | [top] | |
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This is a collection of four text adventures of varying quality, released as a package by Public Brand Software in 1986. Of interesting historical value is the fact that Public Brand (better known as PBS) was one of the first major shareware distributors. This compilation includes William Crowther's and Don Wood's famous Adventure, two lackluster games with very primitive parser from Buttonware called Castaway and South American Trek, and a quaint but funny little game called Return to Hell by Ed Kruse. | ||
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| Amnesia, Thomas M. Disch's | Cognetics Corporation / Electronic Arts | [top] | |
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The game's major innovation was that in addition to being a text adventure it was also a sim game: the action took place in a model of the streets of Disch's Manhattan that covered every block and street corner south of 110th Street. Players moved from place to place on foot, and had to reach destinations at the correct time of day to initiate plot developments. Stores opened and closed at the correct times, street lights went on, and other aspects of New York life were simulated. Disch is the only major writer to create an entirely original feature-length piece of interactive fiction. Sadly, over half of the original text Disch created for the game had to be cut from the published version due to the storage limitations of the then-current 5.25" floppy disk technology. One of the last major text-based games published by a major games company other than Infocom, Amnesia is also the only text adventure ever published by EA. Although highly praised upon its release for its writing style, the game was only a moderate success. | ||
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| Ballyhoo | Jeff O'Neill / Infocom | [top] | |
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A different type of Infocom mystery, Ballyhoo, takes place entirely at a circus. Complete with tight-rope walking, wild animals, clowns, magicians, and other circus-like elements, Ballyhoo is very flavorful, and the usual Infocom descriptiveness shows up well in this game, which really brings a circus to life. The most unfortunate part of the game is the plot, which is quite confusing and hard to follow, and ends with a silly and unnecessary plot twist that is more of a letdown than an exciting ending, though, I suppose, fitting for the type of mystery story this game tells. All in all, an interesting game, but certainly not one of Infocom's more intense or defined. | ||
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| Beyond The Titanic | Scott Miller / Apogee Software Ltd. | [top] | |
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This was one of Scott Miller's really old programs that he wrote. It's one of the two programs ever released that weren't under "The Apogee Model" (Beyond the Titanic had the whole game released in shareware, instead of being split up like "The Apogee Model" does). This program has long since been deleted, and was released as freeware in 1998. It's a text adventure game where you have to make your way off the Titanic as it's sinking and get home before you die trying. It was among the first IF to incorporate sound effects and effective use of colored text. | ||
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| Black Cauldron, The | Sierra Online | [top] | |
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The land of Prydain has fallen under the reign of the evil Horned King. Now in order to complete his conquest, he seeks the mythic black cauldron, a cauldron that has the capability to raise an army of unstoppable undead. Only a pig named Henwen can show the location of the cauldron. You are Taran, the pig-boy of Caer Dallben and keeper of Henwen. It now becomes your quest protect Henwen, to find the black cauldron first, and save the land from the evil Horned King. Based on the classic books and the 1985 Disney movie of the same name. Unlike the other AGI Sierra games which came first, this game does not have a typing interface, but rather a set of commands such as look, activate and use. This was in order to make the game easier to use as it was intended for a younger audience. Designed by Al Lowe, it was made shortly after the first King's Quest game, so it resembled that adventure in many ways. The game actually featured plot branches and multiple endings depending on many variables, such as whether Hen Wen the pig was saved, how the cauldron was destroyed and what reward was chosen afterwards. This use of multiple endings predated the more famous use in LucasArts' game Maniac Mansion by several years. A fan remake was made with AGS in 2004 by DreamMaster. | ||
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| Brataccas [MAC] | Psygnosis / Mindscape Inc. | [top] | |
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This was the first game published by Psygnosis. It is a science fiction action-adventure game, with role-playing game elements. Brataccas is believed to be the remains of the much hyped vaporware project Bandersnatch, which was partially developed by Imagine Software. Brataccas is a game that combines exploration, puzzle-solving and combat. You play a character named Kyne, a man who has a price on his head. You must search the mining asteroid, Brattacus, to gather proof of a government plot against you and to try to stay alive. Surveillance cameras are watching you, so take any chance to disable them. Brataccas is a place where greed and corruption rule the day. The residents are treacherous, and while they can be bribed they are not above murder, so the player has to be careful. | ||
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| Breakers | Synapse Software Corporation / Broderbund Software Inc | [top] | |
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You find yourself in the realm of the Breakers, an ancient race with an ominous prophecy that one day a Messiah will come to them... the same day you arrive. Your task is win survival and a ticket home by convincing them that you are the Messiah. The game is very well-written, with a lot of oblique Biblical inferences and metaphors that are expertly weaved into a surrealistic, fantasy mythos. One thing that sets Synapse IF apart is the real-time play-- and Breakers is no exception. Many puzzles are time-based, requiring you to make decisions quickly, and the plot will move on if you don't type anything for too long. | ||
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| Crimson Crown, The: Transylvania 2 | Polarware / Penguin Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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The follow-up to Transylvania follows in its predecessor's all-too-predictable plot: your nemesis the vampire is back, and you must prevent him from obtaining the Crimson Crown that signifies rulership of Transylvania. The puzzles are more interesting with the addition of your allies Princess Sabrina and Prince Erik, whom you must request (or rather, command, since they never say no) to perform puzzle-solving actions. It's a marked improvement over the first game, so by all means give this a try if you like the other games in this series. In Transylvania we rescued Princess Sabrina, and met Crown Prince Erik. They return upon news of the King John the Good's death, and learn the crown has vanished. The Vampire Lord Drakul tries to uncover its secrets to become King, and threatens its land. As their guide, they accompany you on their journey to reclaim the crown an amulet of immense power and rid the land of the Vampire. Certain tasks require their unique abilities, Princess Sabrina understands magic and Crown Prince Erik can use items that rightfully belongs to the heir of the throne, among other roles. Some places seem familiar, and others are new. Recognizable ancient tree stump and the new mysterious Wizard's castle to underground caverns. Encounter unusual characters and creatures that roam these parts - a friendly Griffin or the wicked Witch to curious Trolls, who like shiny objects. Whenever the Sage appears speak to him, and listen to his words of wisdom. Travelers are advised to know how to answer their riddles. This game was the first adventure written totally in Comprehend, a language, compiler, and interpreter designed and programmed in-house. | ||
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| David Ahl's Basic Computer Adventures | Microsoft Press | [top] | |
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This contains 10 text adventure games in a book. Each game includes a description of the game story, instructions on how to play, notes about the source code, and of course the source code. The included game are: Marco Polo: The player is the leader of a group of merchants leaving on a business trip from Venice, Italy to Shang-tu, China. The goal is to safely complete a trip across the Silk Road; limited food and supplies, weather conditions, and bandits can make the journey a challenge. Westward Ho!: As the head of a family of five, the player needs to travel the Oregon Trail to safely arrive in Oregon City, Oregon. The game starts with $420 which can be used for the purchase of a wagon and other supplies. Along the way obstacles will be encountered similar to those of the actual Oregon Trail, including fires, polluted water, wild animals, bad weather, illness, and topographical hazards. The Longest Automobile Race: A simulation of an automobile race in 1908 from New York to Paris. The player is the captain of the American team and needs to get the Thomas Flyer to Paris as quickly as possible. Challenges along the way include snow, accidents, fatigue, mechanical breakdowns, and limited supplies. The Orient Express: Takes place on the famous train from London to Constantinople. The player is a secret agent assigned to make contact with an arms dealer and arrest the killer of one of his associates. The player needs to solve the mystery based on clues that are uncovered and deal with challenges along the way such as snow, derailment, and bandits. Amelia Earhart: Around the World Flight: A simulation of Amelia Earhart's around the world flight attempt. The player plays the role of Amelia Earhart on this journey and needs to successfully complete an around the world flight. Before each flight information about weather, distance to destination, and physical conditions are provided which help the player plan that leg of the journey. Fuel and plane maintenance are important as well to ensure Amelia's Lockheed Electra can complete the journey. Tour de France: The player is a racer in the famous three-week bike race. The goal is to win the race; in addition to tough competition and physical endurance, the player will need to contend with mechanical difficulties and rough terrain. Appalachian Trail: In this adventure the player is a hiker in 1978 whose goal is to walk the entire 2000-mile Appalachian Trail. The trek begins in April in Georgia just after snow has cleared that part of the trail; the goal is to reach the end in Maine before snowfalls block the path in New Hampshire. Challenges are encountered such as rain, snow, poison ivy, fatigue, hypothermia, and equipment failures. Subway Scavenger: The player takes the role of a messenger hired to pick up and deliver packages in New York City. Starting at 9:00 am, the log will show a list of deliveries that need to be completed before quitting time. Hazards include those typically found in New York including the subway system, track fires, stuck doors, and unsavory characters. Hong Kong Hustle: The player is the Tai Pan of the largest international trading house in Hong Kong. The player discovers that China intends to confiscate much of the property of the major trading houses; as a result, the games objective is to collect 15 bags of gold and jewels which are stored around the city and escape before midnight. Voyage to Neptune: The player is in charge of the first manned spaceship journeying from Earth to Neptune. The year is 2100 and many space stations have already been established along the way which can help out by providing supplies and repairs. The ship is navigated by computer and there are also staff on board to help out. The player needs to maintain the ship and deal with problems to successfully complete the six year journey. The game was later made freeware. | ||
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| Empire of the Over-Mind | Gary Bedrosian / Avalon Hill | [top] | |
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This is an excellent text adventure written by Gary Bedrosian way back in 1979 for the Apple II and Tandy's TRS-80 computer and published by Avalon Hill. The game was never ported to the PC, but the author has ported it himself in 1986 and has kindly put it up on his website for free download. The Over-Mind in the game's title is a powerful golden sphere that has taken over the Kingdom of Alcazar by deceit and corruption. Your task, as a (always weary) traveler-cum-hero, is to locate and destroy the Over-Mind. Supplied with the game is a well-written 21-verse poem called 'The Rhyme of the Over-Mind' which is written in an Olde Worlde style. It takes a while to understand what is going on, but reading this Rhyme is required, because it contains subtle clues you will need (the rhyme is included in the download). The game uses the standard and quite primitive VERB-NOUN parser, but it is more robust than many other games of the same period (Scott Adam's titles come to mind) even though it is no match for the superior parser of Infocom or Level 9. What the game lacks in technical aspects, it more than makes up for in imaginative gameworld, captivating prose, and fun puzzles. You will encounter many fascinating fantasy creatures and obstacles, including Griffin the Gold, a menacing skeleton, the insidious mind-whip, and other ingenious traps. | ||
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| Essex | Synapse Software / Broderbund | [top] | |
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Essex is the second, and probably worst, game in Synapse's promising but short-lived "interactive novel" series. The game follows the real-time format of Mindwheel, but with a much-improved parser. The premise is simple: your pleasant sightseeing tour of the Starship Essex takes an unexpected turn when a dying agent implores you to find a scientist on board - a scientist who has the only formula that will help the Federation defeat the alien Vollchons. As with other Synapse games, many puzzles require astute timing and must be solved within time limit. Essex, however, degenerates into a very frustrating game of hide-and-seek, as you attempt to find various characters in the labyrinthian ship. Your mapping skills will be stretched to the limit in this game, and worse yet, characters move around freely in a seemingly random pattern. Although you can use the Intercom to locate them (by asking "WHERE ARE YOU?"), they might not be at the location they told you once you arrive! Worse still, some puzzles require some characters to be with you, so finding them is imperative to finishing the game. This frustration aside, Essex is a well-written and enjoyable sci-fi game, although it's not up to the standard of other Synapse games. The game will prove a worthy challenge to IF veterans, but definitely is not for the easily frustrated or IF newbies. There was a hardbound book that came with the game which included the instructions and a novella-length introduction to the plot. | ||
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| Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's | Byron Preiss Video Productions, Inc. / Trillium | [top] | |
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The famous sci-fi book by Ray Bradbury is the inspiration for this game about a fireman, whose job in the future is to burn books instead of fighting fires. His wife keeps on trying to commit suicide but she doesn't know why. Kids go joyriding and hit pedestrians with their cars. The fireman, Guy Montag, meets a girl and he begins to question his work and society. Eventually, he becomes a fugitive and joins an underground movement that is trying to save books and independent thought. The game skims over most of that and begins with you, the fugitive, and trying to meet up with the underground and save the world! There are a lot of passwords (words are power!) and silly devices and stuff like that. As an adaptation of the book, this game is quite disappointing. It seems that the main way that the game tries to depict a dystopian future is by including silly deaths every couple of turns. You start off in a city park, but hey, watch out for the tigers! Don't forget about the strange sewer creatures! All of this isn't to say that the game is completely worthless. Just as one can somewhat enjoy Zork Nemesis when he pretends that it isn't a Zork game, this game could probably be enjoyed if you ignore the fact that it's supposed to be an adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. As a cheesy, fantasy/science fiction game, it might even be kind of fun. As a game from one of the bigger text game companies in the 80s, it definitely has its place in history and is worth checking out. | ||
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| Fellowship Of The Ring, The | Beam International / Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc. | [top] | |
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After the excellent The Hobbit, Beam Software disappointed its fans with this subpar adventure that has almost incomprehensible puzzles, grammatical errors, and an overall drop in quality. It feels almost as if The Hobbit's designers took a long vacation and left some amateur to finish this game. Good for some amusing moments and general Tolkienesque nostalgia, but don't expect it to be half as good as its predecessor. It gets credit, however, for being one of the first computer games that allow you to play multiple characters, in this case Frodo, Sam, and Pippin. This interactive fiction (with graphics) based game surround the efforts of the Hobbits: Frodo, Pippin and Sam and their quest to bring the ring to Mount Doom. The game is divided into 2 parts (represented by 2 files: DOS version). The first part starts with Frodo at his home in the Shire, where eventually you will team up with the other Hobbits Pippin and Sam, as well as Aragorn and Gandalf. From meeting with Tom Bombadil, the Green Knight, to the Balrog and ending with the Nazgul River incident. The second part of the game starts with forming of the fellowship, thus adding new team members: Boromir, Legolas, etc., until the end of the novel. | ||
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| Great Escape, The | Denton Designs / OCEAN | [top] | |
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One of the most gripping "realistic" adventures ever produced, The Great Escape puts you in the role of a World War II pilot who is captured by the Germans and must -what else?- escape from the prison. The puzzles are the standard find-everything-that-isn't-nailed-down affair, but there are many scripted events and characters you must take advantage of. For example, figuring out the daily routine of prison life and the guards' patrol routes are essential to plotting your escape. Puzzles are obvious (e.g. use poison on guard dog), but the truly affective adrenaline rush you'll feel when implementing your plan is the best thing about this game. Overall, it's a fun but forgotten classic, and the graphics were good for its time. | ||
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| Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers | Activision | [top] | |
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Even today, Activision's Hacker games remain two of the best espionage games ever made. Using real-time strategy, you once again hack into a computer system, just to end up saving the world. Hacker 2 opens with the console to the "Actisource" computer hotline system (a nice self-ironic pun - although nobody knows why a serious hacker might want to crack a help service for computer games...). However, your quiet little hack is soon disturbed: The government wants you for a secret mission. Yes, it involves a robot drone. Yes, you're the one at the remote control. Although this time, it's not the whole globe that's your playground, but a high security facility in Russia, where the plans for global domination are hidden. In fact, all you've got to do is to guide your drone to the vault on a 2D map of the building. However, there are two major obstacles: Patrolling guards and security cameras. To avoid detection, you've got to trick the observers. By tapping the surveillance system you can see what cameras are currently active and which rooms they monitor. Your task is to bypass the video signal of the right cameras with a taped recording of an empty room, so that your drone is hidden from the view. You control four monitors, which you may freely switch to show the security monitor, the radar map, VCR output or one of the 38 cameras - thus keeping an eye on guard movement while simultaneously controlling your drone and synchronizing recordings to cameras. Whew, sounds like a lot of work? It is. | ||
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| Hollywood Hijinx | Dave Anderson / Infocom | [top] | |
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As a child, you spent most of your summers with your Aunt Hildegarde and Uncle Buddy. What memories! Uncle Buddy was a Hollywood big-shot, Aunt Hildegarde his loving (and very rich) wife. They had no children of their own, but you and your cousins loved their house, their parties, the Hollywood memorabilia, and them. Sure, Buddy and Hildy were a bit eccentric - but that added to their charm. Aunt Hildegarde kept the house when Uncle Buddy passed away. And now that she's suddenly died, you remember her unusual will. You will inherit the entire estate - probably worth millions if you can spend just one night in the house and on the grounds, find a treasure or two. But if you can't then you inherit nothing. And so Hollywood Hijinx begins with you being dropped off in front of a dark house, not to far from Hollywood. Hildebud is filled with props, posters, and other memorabilia from Buddy's numerous films: a model of Tokyo complete with Atomic Chihuahua, the Maltese Finch, and a statue of "Buck Palace, the Fighting Mailman" (star of such films as Postage Due and Special Delivery). Adding to the atmosphere are hidden passages, a convoluted hedge maze, and other bizarre features of the estate. Those strange noises that sound like someone else is in the house — are they just gimmicks too? | ||
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| James Bond 007: Goldfinger | Angelsoft, Inc. / Mindscape | [top] | |
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Angelsoft's second game based on everyone's favorite spy movie follows the plot much more closely than James Bond: A View to A Kill. Goldfinger follows the plot of the third James Bond adventure: this time, the dangerously suave spy's objective is to terminate criminal capitalist Auric Goldfinger (and his assistants Pussy Galore and Oddjob) and foil his plan to contaminate Fort Knox's gold with atomic radiation, a strategy that would dramatically increase the value of Goldfinger's own hoard. Gameplay is similar to A View to A Kill, full of action sequences that must be solved in split-seconds, although Angelsoft's awkward parser still subjects the player to the guess-the-verb-the-designer-wants problem. Most puzzles will prove very easy to fans of the movie, although anyone who has never seen it (perhaps anyone who's lived in caves for the past 20 years) will find them challenging due to the lack of clues (the laser-moving-up-between-his-legs scene is a case in point). Overall, excellent writing and faithful reproduction of the movie's plot makes this one of the best Bond games ever made. Perfect for fans of the series, and well worth a play-through for all IF fans. | ||
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| James Clavell's Shogun | Virgin Games / Mastertronic | [top] | |
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Shogun is one of the earliest adventure games that combine traditional adventure with both action and strategic elements - an attempt that proved largely successful here. In this unique adventure that foreshadows Sid Meier's Sword of the Samurai, make your way from samurai to Shogunate of Japan by recruiting followers, fighting enemies, collect treasures, and solve typical inventory-based puzzles. A good game that stands up well despite bland CGA graphics and difficult battles. | ||
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| Jewels Of Darkness | Level 9 Computing, Ltd. / Rainbird Software | [top] | |
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Originally released in 1983 as "Middle-Earth Trilogy" then became "Colossal Trilogy"
and finally "Jewels of Darkness" which is the most widely available version. They were
originally interactive fiction only but graphics were added in later versions. When
re-released as part of the Jewels of Darkness package, all references to Tolkien were
removed, possibly to avoid charges of copyright infringement. Colossal Adventure (part one): A dramatic rescue of goodly elves imprisoned in deep dank dungeons. A very close clone of the original Adventure text adventure, updated with graphics. The original was strongly influenced by Tolkien, and this version emphasized that even more. Adventure Quest (part two): As an apprentice magician you are called before the Wizard's High Council and sent to defeat the Demon Lord. Dungeon Adventure (part three): The Demon Lord defeated...onward to glory and greater riches. |
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| King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human | Sierra Entertainment | [top] | |
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Loud protests were heard when Gwydion, a young slave, appeared on computer
screens across the world as gamers were expecting returning characters. It was
the first game in the series not to feature King Graham as the player character,
though it was not the last. This game
featured new sounds and new music in addition to enhanced graphics. In 1986,
there were no hint books available, and it took gamers several months to
complete the game. But eventually people found a surprise towards the game's
conclusion. The story moves away from Daventry and King Graham to the land of
Llewdor, where a boy named Gwydion is being kept by the wicked magician Manannan.
Gwydion was kidnapped from Daventry by the magician when he was young, and this
adventure tells the story of his journey back to Daventry. This was allegedly
the first adventure game featuring auto-mapping, with a 'magic map' found in the
game that can be used to teleport to most locations that the player has visited
before. This feature was unpopular among some fans who claim it made the game
too easy, hence magic maps in future Sierra games were more limited in their
teleporting ability. It was also the first game in which Sierra used a
manual-based copy protection scheme.
Also see: #King's Quest 3 VGA Fan Remake, #King's Quest III Redux |
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| L'Affaire | Infogrames | [top] | |
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This is a very rare adventure. Raymond Pardon was a brave guy. Too brave. And because he didn't know how to defend himself, he has just spent six years of his life in prison for a hold-up that he didn't commit. He has lost six years of his life and Mylene, the only woman he has ever loved. Who involved him in this affair? In order to find the guilty person and clear yourself, you must carry out your research in seven European towns: Barcelona, Paris, Cannes, Rome, Amsterdam, Hamburg and London. You play the part of a gangster or journalist in turn. You obstinately lead the inquiry despite the lies and the hired killers. Someone has to pay! | ||
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| Leather Goddesses Of Phobos | Steve Meretzky / Infocom | [top] | |
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This first comic "adult" adventure from Infocom was billed as being "a racy, space age spoof with 'scratch n sniff ' clues, for adults!" It can be played in 3 different modes, from 'tame' to 'lewd' (you have to type in your age when you select one) but, by today's standards, it's not very lewd at all, just very funny. You can also choose the gender of your character, and the descriptions of your 'activities' later in the game will vary accordingly. As the game begins, you find yourself in a grimy neon-laden bar, the social hub of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Suddenly you see a flash of brilliant green light, and then some slimy tentacled aliens appear and grab you, and you faint. You awaken exactly 7.3 hours later, to find yourself wearing a brass loincloth and lying in a large cell with a soft, cushiony floor. When you eventually do get out, you discover to your horror that you have actually been abducted by a race of leather-clad Amazon women from the Martian Moon of Phobos, for a few more 'tests' before they finalize their plans to invade and sexually enslave all of Earth. Full of suggestive sexual innuendos (Mae West style) and outrageous humor (try everything: the answers you receive are hysterical), this bawdy but harmless game is a delight to play and sure to bring a smile to your face. You will travel from Phobos (using a very cool teleportation device) to the Martian desert, the jungles of Venus, and even Cleveland, doing such things along the way as evading a man-eating Venus flytrap, steering a barge down a Martian canal to the ice-capped southern Hemisphere, getting turned into a gorilla, and spending an hour in a Sultan's harem with one of his wives. A Solid Gold edition released in 1988 included Infocom's "InvisiClues" hints as an in-game feature, the game engine ("Z machine") was updated to version 5 (which features a more versatile parser), and most bugs squashed. | ||
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| Moonmist | Stu Galley & Jim Lawrence / Infocom | [top] | |
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You are a famous young American detective who has been invited to Tresyllian Castle by your old friend Tamara Lynd. She is being haunted by the Tresyllian ghost, who seems intent on scaring her off. Can you solve the mystery of the castle? One of Infocom's weakest titles, Moonmist is quite average compared to the company's other games: room descriptions are sparse, and most puzzles are uninspired. Even though puzzles are easy, they do not have the charm of puzzles in Wishbringer to keep you hooked. Perhaps one reason room descriptions lack detail is that the game box includes a neat tour booklet that already describes the castle in detail. Still, that is not a good excuse for a company who is famous for strong attention to detail in their games. On the upside, the game offers four variations in the plot (more or less random as you play), which gives the game some replayability. Each plot variation is only slightly different from the other three, however. Another positive aspect is the NPCs, who are quite well written and on par with characters in Infocom's other games. With easy puzzles and considerable replayability, Moonmist is perhaps best considered as a game to introduce people to murder mystery text adventures. If you are new to this genre, Moonmist is a good starting point before you play the likes of Suspect, The Witness, and finally Deadline. | ||
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| Oo-Topos | Polarware / Penguin Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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Originally an all-text adventure on Apple II in 1981, this game now offers graphics to illustrate the proceedings. On top of that, this version of the game has reduced the number of rooms and altered the solution to the game effectively giving the player a new adventure to solve. This could be the best Polarware game ever and definitely Mike Berlyn's masterpiece, this is a great sci-fi story that opens with you, as a human explorer, captured in the alien land of the Oo-Topos. You must escape the aliens and find your ship. Features a pulse-quickening action and many clever gadget-oriented puzzles despite the limiting verb-noun engine. Recommended for anyone interested in a well-written sci-fi adventure. | ||
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| Pawn, The | Magnetic Scrolls / Rainbird Software | [top] | |
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Definitely one of the "Finest Hours" of the British interactive fiction scene, Magnetic Scrolls' first release The Pawn was an instant sensation in Europe when it was first released, and instantly earned its the developer the moniker of "Europe's Infocom." The PC version, not surprisingly, fared much worse than the Commodore and Amiga version due to inferior graphics and almost nonexistent music. The game is off to a good start with an imaginative fantasy plot. After being knocked out on the way home from the market, you awake in the magical land of Kerovnia, with a silver band clasped around your wrist that cannot be removed. Your goal is to escape Kerovnia, where a general election is about to be held to decide whether King Erik will continue to reign. A dwarf, whose campaign pledge is to "rid dungeons of mazes of any sort" is running against the King. Other locals you'll meet are Kronos the Magician, a Guru on a hill, and a Dragon, all of whom are very well-written and memorable in his or her unique way. If you've never heard of Magnetic Scrolls, or a parser that not only rivals but surpasses Infocom's in many respects, you are in for a pleasant surprise with The Pawn. With a 3,500-word vocabulary, it understands adjectives, pronouns, and two interpretations of the conjunction (instead of just one as with most parsers). How many games could handle this sentence: "Get all except the cases but not the violin case then kill the man-eating shrew with the contents of the violin case."? The parser outdoes Infocom's in the number of multiple commands it can deal with in one go: 32. But even the world's smartest parser is just a bunch of bits and bytes unless it's put to work inside a good game, and fortunately, The Pawn delivers in spades. The game wraps a well-honed prose, great graphics (even though they are grainy in the PC version), and scores of puzzles - some diabolically difficult, others deceptively simple - in a fun story that unfolds as you progress (you won't learn the significance of the game's title until later in the game). Most puzzles are object-oriented, and there are dozens of things to juggle while figuring out how and where to use them. If you get stuck, the game's on-line hint feature doles out graduated hints, similar to Infocom's Invisiclues hintbooks. Purists who don't want graphics to get in the way of their imagination can turn them off, to no detriment to gameplay, since most scenes are described in great detail, ofen with a wry sense of British humor. It even included a thick, well-written novella "Tales of Kerovnia" that sets the stage to the game. In 2017, a Remastered version was released by Strand Games adapted for modern PCs and mobiles, with a vastly improved UI. Features include: Touch-Text Commands; Tap "links" in the text to perform commands without typing; Game specific word suggestion; Tap suggested words from the word bar during input to save time; Sidebar Inventory; All your things are conveniently listed in a sidebar - Drag and drop to use them or to apply them to things in the main text; Dynamic Map - No need to draw out the map, we do it for you. As you explore the game, the map page will expand. Tap any previous room on the map to "fast-goto" that location; Quickly navigate with a handy compass gadget. It shows the available exits at all times, simply tap to move. The new facilities make the original game fun and entertaining to play on modern devices. No more dead ends; the remaster has multi-level undo, save/load game and automatic undo from dying. There's also the original artwork, the animated artwork and new music from the original artist John Molloy. | ||
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| Portal: A Computer Novel | Nexa Corporation / Activision, Inc. | [top] | |
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Portal is a unique "interactive novel" that tells one of the best sci-fi stories ever. Returning from a failed 100-year voyage to earth, you find that that everyone has mysteriously disappered. Then you discover HOMER, a biological computer that alone holds the link to the past and conduit to the future. Together, you and HOMER must discover the doorway to humanity before you're stranded forever. "Puzzles" (in the loosest sense) involve accessing various databases to uncover more information. Highly recommended, especially to sci-fi fans. | ||
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| Questprobe Featuring The Human Torch And The Thing / Fantastic Four | Adventure International / Load'N'Go Software | [top] | |
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Fantastic Four is, thank goodness, the last and best (in a relative sense) game in the short-lived Questprobe series which was a collaboration between Adventure International and Marvel Comics. This time, you control the entire Fantastic Four team, each of whom has unique special powers. The game engine was expanded to handle 2 protagonists at a time, and the parser is much improved, although it is still the standard verb-noun engine. Most puzzles require figuring out which superpower is appropriate in the situation, and collaboration among the team members. Insipid find-item-X-to-give-to-Y-to-get-item-Z puzzles still abound, but there is a lot less of them than in The Hulk and Spider-Man, the first 2 games in the series. | ||
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| Sherlock Holmes: The Vatican Cameos | Ellicott Creek | [top] | |
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This is an interesting text adventure that is more interesting by virtue of innovative designs than the actual gameplay. The game is based on the "affair of the Vatican cameos" mentioned in passing in The Hound of the Baskervilles. As renown private eye Sherlock Holmes, your task is to catch the culprit behind a mysterious murder by investigating clues, interrogating suspects, and make the right deductions to connect the murderer to the weapon and the motive. It is not enough to find the truth, however: to win the game, you must be in the right place at the right time in order to be summoned to testify in court. Then, you must correctly answer a series of ten questions in order to convict the culprit and win the game. Unlike most othe text adventures, this is turn-based: the clock keeps on ticking whether or not you make a move, and you will lose the game entirely if time runs out. Although the game is purely text-based, it has more in common with point-and-click games than traditional parser-based games. This is because you can only form short commands from a small menu of verbs such as MOVE and ASK. The writing is solid, although it seems to me too pretentious - as if the writer were trying too hard to emulate Sir Doyle's style. One nice touch is that suspects move about the game in real time, forcing you to deduce their agenda to intercept them for questioning. Some suspects lie and hide information until confronted with the evidence, and clues are scattered throughout the story. There are also many red herrings to throw you off track, so frequent saving is crucial. With a decent plot, solid writing, and some interesting characters, it's worth a look for mystery fans. The game's very limited interface unfortunately prevents it from being too interactive, but if you prefer games like The Scoop to full-fledged text adventures, this little-known game may prove entertaining. | ||
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| Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy | TRANS Fiction Systems / Simon & Schuster Interactive | [top] | |
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Arguably the best Star Trek adventure game ever made until Interplay's 25th Anniversary, this Simon & Schuster text game is actually stronger than its better-known sequel, The Kobayashi Alternative, because it has better puzzles, more interesting plot, and authentic characters (especially the cynical comments from Bones). As Captain Kirk, explore the Promethean's planet to find food source lest your crew starve to death. The game's interface is functional and does a good job of mimicking the Enterprise's bridge: the screen is divided into Text window (where text appears), Kirk window (where you type commands), Status window (including the ship's location and destination), and Conversation window (which pops up when a character addresses you, with different colors for each character). Overall, it's a fun game recommended for all Star Trek fans - but beware of several time-limit puzzles and ignoring the Prime Directive! | ||
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| Stugan | Forfattana Solletuna / Scandinavian PC Systems | [top] | |
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This is a Swedish text-based joke adventure game. Like in other text adventures you are presented with detailed descriptions of the place you are at, and the directions in which you can exit the area. You write simple commands (all in Swedish) to move in a direction, pick up, use or look at objects and talk to people. The game takes place in and around a cottage (stuga, in swedish) in the Swedish province Småland. The house in disproportionally large on the inside, with 9 floors and a basement with caves, mazes and traps you have to navigate through. As you navigate through the mazes you'll find items and treasures which you can use later on, or trade for extra points. The game was originally written in BASIC in 1977-78 on the Oden Mainframe computer at QZ, the computer science institute of the Stockholm University and Royal Institute of Technology, where the game was also available for free for users of the mainframe. This version was later developed for DOS systems in 1985 and released commercially in 1986. There is an English translated version available at MicroHeaven. | ||
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| Survival In New York City | Bert Lewis / Keypunch | [top] | |
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This is a marginally above-average interactive fiction title, included in Keypunch's Swords and Sorcery package. Given Keypunch's notoriety as the company that kept stealing other people's games (mostly public domain works released via BBS's), it is no surprise that designer credits are nowhere to be found in this game. History of sleaziness in the computer gaming industry aside, it's not a bad game. Your goal at the beginning of the game is to escape from a New York City ghetto, then find adequate food and shelter as soon as possible. To survive, in other words. The writing is short, but to the point. It looks like a typical text adventure except for one strange and glaring omission of THE one word that 99.9% of all text adventures support: the command "LOOK." That's right - there is no way to look at, or examine anything in this game. What it tells you in the room description is all you get. On the upside, that means you won't have to worry about hidden objects that can only be revealed through repeated examinations; in this game, most objects you can get or interact with are lying in plain view. One nice feature is the existence of multiple solutions to many puzzles. This gives the game a good non-linear feel, even if many of these choices belong simply in either the "violent" or "non violent" categories. Another nice touch is that you will see different endings depending on how you solve the puzzles. The parser is nowhere near Infocom's level of versatility. Regardless, it is a neat little game that features some concepts - multiple solutions and multiple endings - that are not so common in the heyday of text games. Well worth a look. | ||
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| Tass Times In Tonetown | Interplay Entertainment Corp. / Activision | [top] | |
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Your grandfather has invented a device which makes real everything he can see in his dream. All the strange places and creatures he can dream about really exist in an alternate reality. One of those creatures, named Franklin Snarl, traveled through the device to our reality and kidnapped Gramps, teleporting him into the crazy world of Tonetown. He hopes that Gramps will always remain asleep, which assures Snarl's own existence! Now it's up to you, the hero of the game to travel to the alternate dimension of Tonetown and to rescue your grandfather. You interact with the environment by either typing in commands, or choosing one of the action icons available as interface. The game, therefore, combines text-based interaction with the more modern "point and click" approach. One of the quirkiest and most underrated adventure games ever, it's a fun romp in an psychadelic / punkrock alternate reality that could have been conceived by Timothy Leary. You have the the aid of your dog who not only can talk but became a star reporter. Based on the engine used in 1985's Borrowed Time, Tass Times sports an intuitive icon-based interface and extremely creative puzzles (although they are mostly easy due to the small number of items you can pick up and use). Exploring the gameworld is half the fun - nowhere else will you see floating phones, triangular moon, and NPCs that look like futuristic MTV generation come to life. The game even has a convenient, but logical, explanation of Tonetown's existence: it is your grandpa's dream comes to life thanks to the "dream hoop" he invented. With wacky puzzles, great graphics (for its time), and one of the best premises ever, it's an extremely original game that's simply a must-have for adventure fans. | ||
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| Trinity | Brian Moriarty / Infocom | [top] | |
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This is widely regarded as one of Infocom's best works. The plot blends historical and fantastic elements as part of a tone poem regarding the destructive power of the atomic bomb and the futile nature of war in the atomic age. The name refers to the Trinity test, the first nuclear explosion, which took place in July 1945. As the game begins, the player's character is spending a final day of a London vacation in the Kensington Gardens. The evening flight back to the United States is looking increasingly unlikely for a number of unusual reasons. Hordes of nannies are blocking all exits from the Garden, and the grass actively resists efforts to be walked upon. Worst of all, a gleam on the horizon soon heralds the unwelcome arrival of a Soviet nuclear missile. Time begins to slow as the missile approaches, and with some ingenuity the player's character finds an incongruous door hovering in mid-air. There's no telling where it may lead, but it can't possibly be worse than the alternative of being at ground zero of a nuclear detonation. The doorway leads to a strange land, where impossible objects exist. Space and time don't seem to behave in the familiar ways here. Exploring this new environment, the player finds several other mysterious doors, each of which leads to another chapter in the history of nuclear weaponry. After visiting test sites (including ones in Siberia, Nevada, and the Eniwetok Atoll and Nagasaki just before each device is detonated, the player has one scenario left to deal with. The final door leads to the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, mere minutes before the test-firing that will change the course of history. But something is wrong at the "Trinity" site, and without the player's intervention things will go horribly awry. | ||
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Adventure related
| Alter Ego | Activision, Inc. | [top] | |
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Alter Ego is a "life simulator" that presents you with a series of life experiences that take you from infancy through old age. You can live out your own life, or the life of someone else, possibly someone you wish you could be. You can live out fantasies without risk, relive your childhood, or maybe see the world from your kids'/parents'/spouse's eyes. The life situations you encounter have the ability to change or become eliminated based on previous decisions you make. While the life you live is a fantasy, the actions you take have very real and thought-provoking responses. Alter Ego came out in a distinct male and female version, where all the experiences are geared toward male or female experiences (duh). Because of the authenticity of the life experiences explored in the program, Alter Ego contains explicit material which may not be suitable for computer users under the age of 16. Players have the option of skipping these experiences. The female version, due to the very small percentage of female gamers at the time, did not sell well and is fairly rare. In 2017, a remake by Choose Multiple LLC was released for modern systems which includes an updated interface and fixes bugs. | ||
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| Bob Winner | Loriciels | [top] | |
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Bob Winner is an early action game with some adventure elements by Loriciel, set in the US' wild, wild West. Bob Winner is on a quest to find a lost civilisation, and has to collect three keys which are being held by three opponents that he meets on his journey - two boxers and a gun-wielding cowboy. To fight them, Bob has to find the right object. There are only about twenty screens, but they all feature stupendous digitised backgrounds. The game was best known for its beautiful background graphics on early 16-bit home computers. The PC conversion is lacking a bit there with its 4 colour art, overall comparable to the Amstrad CPC version. But then for CGA standards the backgrounds still look very nice. The game itself is a fun little game for a while, not much more. | ||
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| Ghostbusters | David Crane / Activision, Inc. | [top] | |
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Based on the 1984 film of the same name, the Ghostbusters are the ones to call to "bust" any ghost hauntings. They do this through the use of nuclear-accelerated "proton packs" and "ghost traps", whereby the ghosts can be captured and transferred to a secure storage facility at their Headquarters. However New York City has suddenly become a very haunted place, and the number of ghosts has suddenly and dramatically increased. The Ghostbusters must reduce the paranormal psychokinetic energy, the "PK level" in the city, which represents ghost power, before the Temple of Zuul awakens and resurrects an evil goddess called Gozer. It's an action game that features an overhead-view and a side-view. From Ghostbusters HQ, the player must monitor a map of midtown Manhattan for "ghost alarms", as well as for casual, roaming spirits, and plot a route to the alarmed area. Once the route is plotted, the player then controls the purchased Ghostmobile as it drives through traffic. Here, the player is able to capture casual ghosts on the way if they are en route. When the haunted location is reached, the game switches to a side-view. Two of the Ghostbusters will take position, activate their proton beams, and toss a trap to the ground. The player must then use the two Ghostbusters to attempt to lead the ghost(s) over the placed trap. Once activated, the trap springs to capture any ghosts directly above it. A successful capture will earn the player money, which can then be used to purchase new vehicles and new modifications for it. An unsuccessful capture will see the ghost fly away (after nastily sliming one of the Ghostbusters). As the game progresses, the PK energy in the city increases. The Ghostbusters must keep it under critical levels by being constantly successful at busting ghosts. Eventually the Temple of Zuul will activate, and if the PK levels are still manageable, the Ghostbusters can venture there for a final showdown with Gozer. A fan-made remake by Trevor (Smila) Storey was released in 2006 with updated graphics and new music. | ||
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| Sub Mission | Tom Snyder Productions, Inc. / Mindscape Inc. | [top] | |
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An evil warlord has abducted 2 earthlings. He is a maniacal, war game loving, evil person. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to let yourself be captured by him, challenge and defeat him in the war game, and bring back the earthlings. Should you get killed, the Secretary will send an appropriate note to your family. The story ain't Shakespeare, but it's enough to give a background and reason for us to dive into the world using remote-controlled submarines, that can carry either a robot or a human being. Carrying a robot carries no risk of losing a crew when your sub is destroyed, but to win the game you have to eventually put the earthlings into your sub, which means that if your sub is destroyed they're dead (and you lose the game). Other than getting your sub destroyed, another way to kill the earthlings is forgetting to surface and take a new supply of oxygen. This game is a blend of simulation and adventure, although the simulation part seems to lean more towards gameplay than accuracy. Control is entirely using the keyboard, and sometimes you need to actually type the commands! The graphics are the glorious 4 color pallette of yesteryear. Being designed in an era where soundcard is an unknown gadget, the game is distributed with accompanying audio cassette to give you briefing and tutorial! The tutorial is thorough, and should give you enough knowledge of how to play the game. This is yet another unique game. See if you like the adventure part of the game. If you only want to get into some underwater action, you might want to check elsewhere. | ||
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| Wilderness: A Survival Adventure | Titan Computer Products / Electric Transit, Inc. | [top] | |
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Wilderness is a unique survival adventure that may well be the most realistic simulation of its kind ever made, even decades after its release. The game casts you as an archaelogist in search of the Croesus status, rumored to be inside the Lost City of Gold. From the scene of where your plane crashed, you must trek into the wilderness, find the statue, and return alive. Although Wilderness may appear to be just another parser-based interactive fiction, the player will soon discover that the game's astounding level of realism and detail more than qualifies it as a simulation. The game was designed by a team of real-life doctors, and it shows: right from the start, the game asks for your height, age, and heart rate - all of which affect hundreds of factors, from stamina, speed, and resistance to disease. Every decision involved in real-life camping is modeled in this game. For instance, you must WEAR WOOL SOCKS during cold weather to prevent frostbite; PACK and CARRY supplies (each of which has a weight, and you can overburden yourself); MAKE various survival tools from available raw material, such as HUT (possible if tree limbs are nearby), or even TRAP to catch wild game; BOIL WATER gathered from questionable sources (all food spoils at 65 degrees Fahrenheit); USE SPLINT to treat broken legs or arms; and navigate by the stars at night. The list of options is virtually endless, and there are many random elements (storms, diseases etc.) that you must contend with. The game boasts a 300-word vocabulary, none of which is superfluous. The parser is robust enough to understand long sentences and respond appropriately. Wilderness features "Panagraphics," a 3D graphics generating system that guarantees a new, random map each time you play. Those who prefer adventure games to realistic simulations can play in "Research Mode," in which you are no longer affected by burdensome parameters such as hunger, thirst, or illness. Overall, Wilderness is a complex simulation that is guaranteed to teach you a few things about real-life survival adventure. It may seem "dry" to some, but for those who crave realism in their games, there's no better survival game on the market. | ||
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Kids
| Bagasaurus | Children's Computer Workshop, Micromosaics / Hi-Tech Expressions | [top] | |
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This is a game in which children control a dinosaur and licensed from the kids television show The Electric Company. The player has to move the Bagasaurus to the correct answer to questions/tasks which are presented at the bottom of the screen. One example is to pick up an animal which has a tail, picking up a dog would be a correct answer. In response to a correct answer the Bagasaurus will do a little jig. In addition to this there is also a story telling mode. | ||
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| Donald Duck's Playground | Al Lowe / Sierra On-Line | [top] | |
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Donald Duck's Playground is an award-winning educational adventure containing a charming collection of mini-games, mostly arcade-oriented, for kids. The abundance of humor and surprises in these creative mini-games more than make up for the lack of plot or traditional adventure-style puzzles. The plot is simple: you are Donald Duck, who must work to buy toys for your nephew to enjoy. The booter game was later remade in 1988 based on Sierra's AGI engine (King's Quest 3 etc.), which makes the graphics and animation outstanding for the time. Of special note to game historians is the fact that this was the very first EGA game Al Lowe designed at Sierra On-Line before going on to the famous Leisure Suit Larry Series. | ||
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| Ernie's Big Splash | CBS Learning Systems / Hi-Tech Expressions | [top] | |
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This is a Sesame Street video game starring Rubber Duckie for kids ages four to six.. The goal is to create a series of connections for Rubber Duckie to make his way to Ernie's bathtub. The game teaches basic logic, directions (North, South, East and West) and sequencing. Ernie's Challenge level - The Rubber Duck will be shown in one square some where on the screen. Ernie will be in another square somewhere else of the screen. The object is to get the Rubber Duck over to Ernie. You do this by selecting which path you’d like to use, from a wide selection, to get there. Ex. Say that there are 3 squares all together, starting from the left and going right. The Rubber Duck is in square #1 and Ernie is in square #3. Now, you want to go to square #3, which is to the right. So, select a panel that will get you there. Each panel will have to arrows in it, one representing where you’re leaving from, one representing where you’re going. We want to go the right, so select the panel with two arrows pointing to the right. Hey, look. You made it to Ernie. This is actually a lot simpler than it looks, so don’t worry too much. Once you’ve made it to Ernie, a little song and dance will take place. After words, pressing the A button will repeat the little show, but in reverse. Pressing Start will start a new game. Ernie's Fun Challenge - More path selections and more than one character on the screen. Ernie's Super Challenge - More path selections and more than one character on the screen. | ||
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| Fisher-Price Alpha Build | ChildWare Corporation / Fisher-Price Learning Software | [top] | |
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This is an educational game that teaches alphabet skills to children. The player controls a penguin called Perry who has to climb ladders to pick up letters and then drop them onto the correct truck. The aim of the game is to build a city and to do so three sets of trucks have to be loaded with letters. Each stage involves loading eight trucks which will then drive away and construct the city. First the frame is built, then the surface and finally it is coloured. There are eight levels of play. The first four levels involve simple letter recognition, upper and lower case matching and alphabetical order. Level 5 adds words to the game while level 6 to 8 are word challenges in which some of the needed letters are hidden. | ||
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| Math in a Nutshell | Learning Technologies Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a math learning game. The player controls a squirrel who can move horizontally on the screen. The player sees several numbers that must in some way be manipulated to achieve the provided answer. The player can place addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division signs between numbers. There are three levels of difficulty. | ||
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| Math Rabbit | The Learning Co. | [top] | |
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This is an educational game for ages 5-7. Included are four games which are designed to help build math skills. The games are: Clowns' Counting Games - a number counting game; there are three variations of increasing difficulty included. In these games the player needs to count the numbers from 1 to 8 which are presented by Math Rabbit. After successfully counting all of the numbers presented, a tune will be played; Tightrope Game - the player needs to help Math Rabbit practice walking the tightrope by matching numbers and objects. Four levels of difficulty are included. The player needs to match an object presented by Math Rabbit; a correct match should be put on the shelf or an incorrect match should be allowed to fall into the water barrel below. Addition, subtraction, greater than, less than, and other problems are available depending on the difficulty. The game can also be customized; Circus Train Game - the player needs to load the circus train with numbers that are either bigger or smaller by the specified amount. Math Rabbit will present an addition or subtraction problem; A number of elephants pass by, each with different numbers and the player needs to select the appropriate number to add to the train. The game can also be customized; Mystery Matching Game - a memory style matching game. A series of cards are shown to the player who needs to match like cards together. Four difficulty levels are included; depending on the difficulty just numbers are shown or addition and subtraction problems are shown. This game can also be customized. In addition to the game itself, the instruction manual also includes suggestions for additional activities. This includes identifying and coloring in the manuals over sized page numbers, connect the dots pictures, and a domino's math game. | ||
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| Mickey's Space Adventure | Roberta Williams / Sierra On-Line | [top] | |
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Walking along one day, Mickey and Pluto come across a spaceship. After boarding the ship, they are given a quest by XL30 from the planet Oron. A long time ago, a thief stole the planets memory crystal and broke it up into nine pieces, hiding them on each planet in the solar system. It is Mickey's job to travel to each planet and locate the crystals so the inhabitants of the planet Oron may receive their memory back. Information about the different planets and locations visited are displayed on arrival, and XL30 may occasionally give clues through the ships computer. The interface for the game doesn't use a text parser, instead short sentences are created by using the cursor keys to highlight the necessary words from a selection on the screen. The game will also suggest better options if an illogical or impossible action is requested. Robert Williams designed the game and it uses the Troll's Tale game engine. Al Lowe made the music also. | ||
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| Number Fun 1 | Reckon Software Pty Ltd | [top] | |
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Aimed at pre-school/kindergarten ages and up, the four number games in this release provide a variety of ways to solve simple number problems. "Munch" requires navigating a Pac Man-like figure to the correct answer and eating it. "Tiny Bomb" involves typing in answers to multiplication, addition or subtraction problems before the fuse burns down and the bomb explodes. "Ozzie Koala" requires navigating a koala to the correct answer and pointing at it. "Bomb" is much the same as "Tiny Bomb" but introduces division problems as well. Each game lets you choose a difficulty level, allowing various skill levels to be challenged. | ||
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| Spy's Adventures in Europe, The | Magic Tree, Ltd. / Polarware | [top] | |
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Another installment of Spy's Adventures is set in Europe this time. And as other games in the series, it is an educational adventure game similar to the Carmen Sandiego series of games. Jewel thief and smuggler extraordinaire, Dr. Xavier Tortion (aka Dr. X), is somewhere in Europe along with numerous jewels he's stolen. Your job is to find the jewels and locate Dr. X! In the game you have to travel to various European countries and their famous locations to search for clues. You may travel only between adjacent countries on the map. Clues will be left behind by friendly agents and indicate where jewels are located. When you will come across an informant, he should be bribed with money or jewels to receive a clue, where Dr. X is. You only have 3 guesses to uncover Dr. X's hideout until the end of the game. If you are successful in your mission, you are given an efficiency rating; the fewer turns you can locate Dr. X in and the more jewels recovered, the better your score will be. The game is available for one player, as well as two game modes for multiple players - cooperative "spy network" or "spy against spy". The progress may be saved and restored later. The best scores will be stored in top list. The creators now have it available as freeware. | ||
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| Spy's Adventures in North America, The | Magic Tree, Ltd. / Polarware | [top] | |
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Dr. Xavier Tortion (aka Dr. X), jewel thief and smuggler extraordinaire, is on the loose; intelligence reports he is somewhere in North America along with numerous jewels he's stolen. Your job will be to find the jewels and locate Dr. X! This is an educational adventure game which is similar to the Carmen Sandiego series of games. In the game you will need to travel to various North American locations to search for clues; some clues have been left behind by friendly agents and indicate where jewels are located. Sometimes you will come across an informant; if bribed with money or jewels, you will receive a clue as to Dr. X's where about. When you think you have enough clues, you can guess where Dr. X is hiding; you only get three guesses though, so if you keep guessing wrong the game will end. If you are successful in your mission, you are given an efficiency rating; the fewer turns you can locate Dr. X in and the more jewels recovered, the better your score will be. The creators now have it available as freeware. | ||
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| Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego? | Brøderbund Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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Carmen and her evil henchmen are at it again. It is up to you to search the United States to find and arrest them. Carmen and her international crime ring are stealing treasures in all 50 states. They have nabbed Lincoln's Log Cabin, swiped Seattle's Space Needle and grabbed the OK Corral. The ACME detective agency needs you to catch the culprits and return the stolen goods. There have been several versions released over the years - an Enhanced version was released in 1992 with VGA graphics, Network support, mouse and joystick support, and detailed descriptions of suspects. Also you have to answer correctly the doc check question to acquire a new rank. A Deluxe version was released in 1994 that featured high-resolution graphics, digitized sound effects, and new locations. Kids can expand their knowledge of cities, states and regions as they pan through beautifully painted landscapes filled with regional music, spoken clues and over 200 animated characters. Develop deductive reasoning skills and practice map reading. There are 3,000 clues, spectacular photos, music from all 50 states and spoken description of all states by local residents. The electronic reference tool is a rich database with over 50 video clips, maps and flags. Essays highlight each state's geography, economy, historic events, landmarks and famous people. The key-word search makes it great for researching school projects. This is a multi-level mystery game that kids love to play and they don't even realize they are learning geography and sharpening deductive reasoning and map reading skills. | ||
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| Writer Rabbit | The Learning Company | [top] | |
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Writer Rabbit makes preparations for a Sentence Party. The game teaches users how to form sentences and reinforces good grammar and typing skills. There are six activities including "Icecream Game", three "Cake Games", "Juice Game" and "Silly Story Party". The player can choose one of three difficulty levels to play the activities. The key words for forming sentences are "How", "Who", "What", "When", "Why", "Where" and "Did What". The game contains over 200 different news stories to work from. It contains six minigames: Icecream Game - Players indicate which sentence part appears at the top of the screen; The Cake Games (1, 2, and 3) - Match sentence parts; Juice Game - Players complete sentences; Silly Story Party - Players can write stories from scratch or from a list of story fragments. | ||
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Role-Playing Games
| Larn | Noah Morgan | [top] | |
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Larn is one of the first Roguelikes (RPG dungeon crawls with top-down or isometric graphics and a high degree of randomization; Rogue or Nethack are examples) with a wilderness and more than one dungeon. In this game, you are searching the Caverns of Larn for a cure for your daughter's strange disease. The game world is presented entirely with ASCII text characters. | ||
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| Leygref's Castle | Frank Dutton | [top] | |
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Leygref's Castle is a remake of Wizard's Castle. The gameplay is very similar to the original: Explore a castle (represented as an 8x8x8 cube), kill the monsters and grab the treasures to find a powerful item. You do this in a turn-based manner by entering short text commands. Each room of the castle may contain a monster (which will probably result in a simple turn-based combat), a vendor where you can buy and sell things, or special items with random effects (books, magic pools and chests). If you're intelligent enough, you can also cast spells. Small extensions have been made, for example, there are two additional classes at character generation and more monsters. The game also has enhanced text graphics and a more intuitive interface -- for example, the room contents are not indicated by just one letter like "D", but by short words. The gameplay may seem simplistic at the beginning, but winning the game involves using right strategies which monsters to attack, when to cast spells and the right use of the items and special places. | ||
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| Starflight | Binary Systems / Electronic Arts, Inc. | [top] | |
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A long time ago, a great empire comprised of Humans, Velox, Thrynn and Elowan ruled the stars. The Empire's currency was an energy source called Endurium. But something happened and this empire is no more. Furthermore, the small colony world named Arth has forgotten this heritage and technology. A thousand years have since passed and the people of Arth have rediscovered archaeological evidence of their empire. Using these discoveries, they create spaceships and form the Interstel corporation to govern the fleet. It's time to take the first steps back into space... but could it be the same enemy that destroyed the Empire still exists? Starflight is a space exploration game with role-playing elements. The game is completely non-linear, allowing the player to venture to any star system and explore any of the vast amount of available planets. The main plot is advanced by following cryptic clues either received as transmissions at the initial spaceport, or obtained as a result of successful communication with various alien races populating the universe. The player must first form a crew, assign their positions and customize the spaceship before blasting off from spacedock. Besides the captain of the ship, a science officer, a navigator, an engineer, a communicator, and a doctor have to be assigned to the ship. The player can choose between Humans, Velox, Thrynn, Elowan, and Android races when creating the characters. Each profession usually has a racial counterpart with the highest proficiency in it. Except Androids, members of every race can be trained in their skills by spending the game's currency. In the starting location the player can also acquire better weapons, armor, and shields for the ship, as well as outfit it with cargo pods. Terrain vehicle can be customized as well. Once out into space, the standard interface allows access to different crew members and navigation. The entire galaxy is unknown and it's up to the player to travel to distant planets to explore and land on them. Planets may be inhospitable, with harsh weather conditions and various terrain types. Using a top-down interface, a planetary lander will venture out with the task of finding minerals and biological data to transport back to Starport. These resources can be sold for MU, the game's currency. Different alien races control the galaxy and it will be up to the player to approach them diplomatically or face them in combat. Depending on the communicator's skill, the player may conduct successful conversations by assuming different postures, requesting information, or answering questions posed by the aliens. Each race has a different attitude and requires different approaches to peacefully end the negotiations. If all else fails, or if the player so wishes, the player-controlled ship may engage the aliens in combat, which is presented as overhead arcade action sequences. Successful exploration of the galaxy and alien cultures will yield clues and new leads as to the fate of the Empire. | ||
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| Tera: La Cite des Cranes [Fr] | Grafmodcolor / Loriciels | [top] | |
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Tera: The City of Skulls is a role-playing game in which you should bring order and harmony to the world on the planet Amarande the Black. Once prosperous, it is now divided among three forces: technology, which incorporates all that was invented by engineers; transcendence, whose power relies on priests and vestal; and magic, whose temple is buried in the depths of the City of Skulls. To do this you should perform four quests, exploring: the depths of a vast dungeon known as the City of Skulls, a space base on a small nearby planet named Alfol, a parallel world populated by crystal-telepaths controlled by Méduz, the temple of Seth. These places are filled with dangerous and frightening creatures such as tarantulas, demigods, cyborgs, spirits, vampires, necromancers, or demon-prince. The player begins the game from character's generation, determining his/her various skills by assigning points to each of 9 attributes: strength, endurance, agility, intelligence, determination, charm, luck, vitality, dexterity. Second attribute is a skill: action, astronaut, D system, magic, PSY power, negotiation, exorcism, casting, shooting. Each type of enemy is vulnerable to certain attacks. At the beginning of the game, the player does not have sufficient skills to defeat all types of enemies. Fortunately he may be joined by 3 other companions, whose skills will complement those of the player. Moreover, the companions of the player will automatically teach him their skills. You can find a total of 9 characters (one per jurisdiction), who could join the team, but there can be only 4 people, including the player in the team at a given moment. The teammates may be abandoned at any time to be replaced. As the player explores the world and basements of the City of Skulls, he discovers the clues teaching him how to accomplish his quests and how certain objects will help. There are also many boxes (often trapped or kept by dangerous creatures) containing gold or powerful artifacts. The entire world and dungeons as well as the usefulness of some magical objects are randomly generated at the beginning of the game. Orders are completely given with keyboard. A list of orders appears when pressing the "?" key. | ||
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| Wizardry: Legacy of Llylgamyn - The Third Scenario | Andrew Greenberg, Inc., Robert Woodhead, Inc. / Sir-tech Software, Inc. | [top] | |
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A generation has passed since your band of adventurers reclaimed the Staff of Gnilda and the armor of the Knight of Diamonds, and the land has been at peace. But now nature itself seems to be attacking the land of Llylgamyn, as earthquakes and tidal waves ravage the land. The Sages believe the Orb of Scrying is the city's salvation, but it is guarded by the dragon L'kbreth. A band of explorers must once again venture forth in search of the Orb. This is the third entry and end of the initial first Wizardry trilogy. Like its predecessors, it is a first-person dungeon-crawling role-playing game in which the player assembles a party of up to six characters and explores a large maze-like dungeon, fighting randomly appearing enemies in turn-based combat and occasionally returning to the game's only town to rest, buy supplies, and outfit the characters. Characters must be imported from either the first or the second game. Character classes, combat system, and overall gameplay mechanics are very similar to those of the two previous games. Good, evil and neutral alignment, however, plays a larger role. While the first level of the dungeon is accessible to everyone, the other five levels impose alignment restrictions, requiring the party either to have at least one good or bad character, or contain no neutral characters. See also: #Wizardry: Lylgamyn Saga [J] |
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Platformers
| Castlevania | Distinctive Software, Inc. / Konami, Inc. | [top] | |
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Every hundred years, the dark vampire known as Dracula resurrects and terrorizes the land. A vampire hunter named Simon Belmont bravely ventures into the Count's mansion in order to defeat him. Along the way he'll have to defeat skeletons, bats, fishmen, medusa heads and other evil creatures. Castlevania is a side-scrolling platform action game. The player taking the role of Simon Belmont is able to jump and crack his whip directly in front of him. Power-ups can be obtained by defeating enemies or by whipping candles that appear in the castle. One such power-up increases the power and length of Simon's whip. Different weapons can be gathered which consume hearts when used, these hearts can also be collected from monsters and candles. Additionally, some walls will hide secrets such as the health-restorative turkey or the Double and Triple shot abilities for the weapons Simon has collected. At the end of each section of the castle is a boss, which must be defeated. Progression through the castle eventually leads to a confrontation with Count Dracula himself. | ||
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| Goonies, The | Konami | [top] | |
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This Japanese DOS platformer based on the movie was never officially made for PC. This download is the MSX version recompiled to work in DOS with no emulator required, thanks to Friends, one of the more prolific MSX crackers groups. It borrows the basic concept from the 1985 Famicom (NES) version, but it features completely different levels and enemies. Rather than play Mikey and save the remaining Goonies, you play as Sloth who must rescue all the Goonies, meaning you need to rescue seven Goonies per stage instead of just one so the stages are significantly longer and more complicated. To open doors you need to use keys instead of bombs, and you can only carry one key at a time. There's also an experience meter that increases every time you kill an enemy. | ||
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Casual Games
| Chessmaster 2000, The | The Software Toolworks Inc. | [top] | |
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This iteration of the Chessmaster series offers a strong chess opponent at 12 skill levels, catering for novices to grandmasters. Its many features include an opening library built around 71,000 moves and the ability to print out the move history. To help novices there is a teach mode showing all legal moves, a hint move offering what the computer feels is a strong move, and the chance for the Chessmaster to analyse all previous moves in a game. Famous real-life game positions and pre-set challenges offer individual challenges. | ||
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| Cyrus II Chess | Intelligent Chess Software Ltd. | [top] | |
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This is a chess program, it is the sequel to the acclaimed Cyrus which was released in 1982. This game has most of the features of the earlier game. The board can be viewed in top-down mode or in a 3D isometric mode with the player being able to switch between the two by pressing the ESC key. There are twelve skill levels, level 1 - 9 affect the time the player has to make their move from just 2 seconds per move at level 1 through to a maximum of 3 minutes at level 8. The other three skill levels are Adaptive where Cyrus plays at the same rate as its opponent, Infinite where Cyrus will keep on thinking until told to make a move, and Problem where Cyrus searches for mate in five moves or less. Other features include watching the computer play itself, switching sides, retracting and replaying moves, a hint facility, and being able to set up chess problems for Cyrus to solve. There is also support for a printer so that either the current board or the contents of Cyrus' memory containing the current position plus recent moves can be printed at any time. Additionally the game can be printed move by move as it progresses to preserve the full record. | ||
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| Mind Boggle | Keypunch Software Inc. | [top] | |
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This is a collection of games that includes the following: Hi-Que: a variant of the classic Hi-Q board game "Flipper". Reflector Detector: a game where atoms are hidden in an 8x8 square, and the player has to discover their position by seeing how they interact with rays that the player projects from the sides of the box. Master Memory: a Mastermind variant. Dr. Frank - a variant of Hangman. | ||
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| Shanghai | Activision Inc. | [top] | |
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This is one of the first video game adaptations of the tile-based game played with the Chinese mahjong stones - essentially a puzzle game that has little to do with real mahjong rules. The gameplay involves 144 tiles, each depicting different images, which have to be removed by matching them into pairs. The tiles are arranged in a gridded pattern, which is higher near the centre. A tile can only be removed if it has no tile next to it on at least one side. This computer implementation can generate a random board layout to take on and features five preset challenges, some of which have time limits of five or ten minutes, as well as a multiplayer mode. Apparently inspired by a Chinese game called "the Turtle" or "Destroy the Turtle", played with Mahjongg tiles, Brodie Lockhard implemented the first digital version of mahjongg solitaire in 1981 on the PLATO system (released for free, played via a CDC-721 touch screen terminal, according to Wikipedia), which in turn led to a commercial online version run by the Control Data Corporation in 1983 before this home version made the biggest splash yet. | ||
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| Tetris | AcademySoft | [top] | |
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This is the first computer adaptation of a mathematical puzzle game based on the concept of "pentominoes" - five equal squares joined together in various ways to make geometric shapes. Created by the Russian game designer Alexey Pazhitnov, it first appeared on Shareware BBSs in 1986 for the IBM PC. Many clones, variants, and enhanced versions have been released ever since. The basic idea is to efficiently pack an empty box with variously shaped blocks (six in this original version) that fall down into it. Fitting them together to complete lines (rows), use your keyboard to rotate, move and drop the blocks into position as they fall. When you succeed in completing a line (all empty spaces filled in it), the line (or row) disappears, making room for more. The faster you go, the higher your score. The speed in which the blocks appear and descend increases when you reach higher levels. The shapes of the blocks are random, so the game is different each time you play. | ||
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