Antic, v5(6)

~2 minute read

Oct 1986

Product Reviews

Fooblitzky

Michael Lasky

Infocom, Inc.
125 Cambridge Park Drive
Cambridge, MA 02140
(800) 262-6868
2-4 players, age 14 to adult
$39.95, 48K disk

Fooblitzky is a graphics-filled strategy game that I actually found dull. The most surprising thing about this cumbersome computerized boardgame is that it is the first graphics software from the interactive fiction geniuses at Infocom.

Fooblitzky City is inhabited by dogs. The object of the game is to move around and collect four objects secretly pre-selected by the other players. Then you race back to a checkpoint. If you have the correct objects, you win.

Obstacles to prevent you from quickly succeeding include being hit by a car, opponents bumping into you and taking your possessions, and the Chance Man, a con artist/mugger who prowls the streets. A spinning wheel determines how many spaces you move in each turn.

You buy things like bananas, teddy bears and light bulbs, using "foobles" for money and noting the objects and their prices on a memo board. If a store is out of stock, you must go to another quadrant of the city to buy, but you can call ahead from a telephone booth to avoid a wild goose chase. And there is a subway to get you across town quickly.

Anything you do in Fooblitzky seems to cost money. If you go broke, you can earn more by working in the restaurant or selling possessions in the pawnshop. You start each game with exactly twice the amount needed to buy one set of correct items.

As with other Infocom games, the disk drive responds to virtually every command you make. The program, however, doesn't always react to the joystick the first time you push it. I preferred using the keyboard instead. The flipping graphics and page scrolling are well-defined "pixel-ated" drawings -- somewhat primitive in design but still whimsical. The only sound effects are a few low-volume tones that can be toggled off.

Fooblitzky requires musical chairs logistics where each player takes a turn at the keyboard. there are so many rules and procedures to remember that the package contains four memo boards with colored oil pens for player notes and three -- count 'em -- different sets of instructions. The screen can accommodate only 25% of the playing field. Pushing the joystick button at the right time produces a miniature map of the entire board, but it's hard to read. A status line quadrant locator is of little help.

Variations to the default "house rules" can be made when booting the disk. You can change the Chance Man's mood, make crossing the streets safe, even start players with more foobles. About the only thing you can't do is make Fooblitzky more exciting.

This article appeared in
Antic
Oct 1986

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