Posted 19 January 2000 to rec.games.int-fiction

[WARNING: MILD SPOILERS]

Though Interactive Fiction is usually freeware, a number of commercial and shareware adventures have popped up over the years. In this review, I look at six of the more well-known games.

These reviews do not judge the games; if I hadn't liked them, I wouldn't have registered them.

I didn't review several older games, since I didn't register them; I'm not sure if some of them can even still be registered. Among them are:

Dark Tower, by John Kless (Inform)
Die Karawane der Siebten Dynastie by Extase (DOS)
El senor de los Anillos, by Dimas Caparros Gomez (Amiga)
John's Fire Witch, by John T. Baker II (TADS, actually "lunchware")
Lost, by Jeffrey Hersh (TADS, and there's source code available)
Paul's First Journey by Rodney McAuley (DOS)
Save Princeton, by Jacob Weinstein (TADS)
Starship Columbus, by Gary McGath (AdvSys)
Storms I, by Ryan Burrus (AGT)
The Crisis of Dersenia by Doug Harrison (DOS)
The Path to Fortune, by Christopher E. Forman (Inform)
The Wade Wars, Book III by Fish Software (DOS)
Uh-Oh, by ? (Inform)

The main goal of this article is to show whether those games are indeed worth the money you spend on them. The secondary goal is for you to go and buy or register them if you like what you read!

OK, here we go, in no particular order:

 

-= ONCE AND FUTURE =-

By: G. Kevin Wilson, published by Cascade Mountain Publishing
URL: http://www.cascadepublishing.com
What it costs: $22 (electronic), $29.95 (CD)
Hint book: $7.50 (electronic), $9.95 (printed)

"Once and Future", formerly known as "Avalon", must be the most talked about IF game ever. Since everyone knows that story by now, I'll skip it and get right down to the dirty details.

The professionally-made cardboard box contains the game CD, which has versions of the game as executables for many platforms as well as the standalone .GAM file.

The -- also professionally done -- feelies include
* a photograph of three soldiers
* a letter to the PC from his girlfriend
* a letter from the PC to his mother (in an envelope)
* a WESTERN UNION telegram and a letter from the US war department to the PC's mother.
* The "Noncommissioned Player's Guide" (manual).

The hintbook contains all the maps, hints (including amusing bogus questions and a 'Have you tried...' section) and a score breakdown.

 

-= DR. DUMONT'S WILD P.A.R.T.I. =-
By: Michael Berlyn, published by Cascade Mountain Publishing
URL: http://www.cascadepublishing.com
What it costs: $24

"Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I." is available for electronic download only, and the goodies come in a two PDF files:
* A manual
* Advertisement "My town. Our Planetarium."
* A postcard from Egypt
* A Score Card for University Miniature Golf
* Kite Race rules

A complete hint system, written by Yours Truly, is included in the game file.

 

-= LOSING YOUR GRIP =-
By: Stephen Granade <sgranade @ phy . duke . edu>
URL: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~sgranade/lyg.html
What it costs: $20 (or $23 if you register via Kagi)

"Losing your Grip" is available for electronic download with the hints disabled. Registering gets you a key file (and don't ask because I won't send it to you, ever) that unlocks the hints and very well done feelies that were apparently designed by Stephen's wife Misty, who does this for a job:
* A disk containing the game and the key file
* A manual
* A design for a PharmCo ad with a post-it stuck on
* A newspaper clipping "Do You Want to Quit Smoking?"
* The PC's registration form for the PharmCo program
* A letter from Stephen thanking you for registering

 

-= LOST NEW YORK =-
By: Neil deMause <neil @ demause . net> URL: http://www.demause.net/if.html
What it costs: $12 in the US, $15 outside the US

"Lost New York" is available for electronic download with the hints disabled. Registering gets you a key file (and don't ask because I won't send it to you, ever) that unlocks the hints plus
* A disk containing the game and the key file
* A manual containing a short history of New York and some photographs
* A postcard

Also, there is a HTML-enhanced version of "Lost New York" coming up, and the author plans to make the new version available to registered owners of the original game either for free or at a substantial discount.

 

-= BABEL =-
By: Ian Finley <mordacai @ ix . netcom . com>
URL: http://www.demause.net/if.html
What it costs: $5 for Babel or Exhibition, $8 for both

"Babel" is available for electronic download only. Registering gets you the following professionally done goodies:
* A certificate of registration
* An URL where you can listen to some music tracks from "Babel Enhanced"
* A page torn from the bible (The Revelation of Christ), tainted with "blood"
* A memo which I'll say nothing about, since it'd spoil a lot of the game

Also, if you register now, you'll get the coming HTML-enhanced version of "Babel" for free instead of $10!

 

-= EXHIBITION =-
By: Ian Finley <mordacai @ ix . netcom . com>
URL: -
What it costs: $5 for Babel or Exhibition, $8 for both

"Exhibition" is available for electronic download only. Registering gets you the following extremely well done goodies:
* A certificate of registration
* A newspaper clipping about the death of Anatoly Domokov
* A black envelope, containing an invitation to the exhibition of Domokov's American Paintings. This is one of the most well-done feelies I've ever seen.
* A guide to all the paintings of Domokov including a spoiler for the easter egg hidden in the game.

 

All in all, I must say every of the games was worth every cent I spent on it. The work that has obviously gone in all of those feelies really shows, and I think you won't be disappointed.

The shareware games are available for download at the mentioned URLs, or at ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/ or one of the mirrors thereof.