~2 minute readScreening Room: The Rating Game
Planetfall
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: Apple
II/II plus/IIe, 32K (disk); also
available for Atari 400/800, 32K
(disk); Commodore 64 (disk);
IBM PC, 48K (disk); TI-99/4A,
32K (disk); and TRS-80 Models
I/III, 32K (disk)
MANUFACTURER: Infocom, Inc., 55
Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA
02138; (617) 492-1031
PRICE: $49.95
You're a member of the prestigious Stellar Patrol, warping around the far reaches of the galaxy. But life is far from glamorous in this text adventure. As an ensign seventh class, you're assigned to floor-scrubbing duty in one of the space cruiser's many hallways. An obnoxious officer watches your every move and makes life miserable. To make things worse, explosions begin to rock the cruiser's hull.
Infocom is great at putting game players in tough situations, but this game does more. It adds a little humor. Many of the responses to your commands are funny, and sometimes even sarcastic. And when you get to an abandoned planet after escaping from your doomed cruiser, you meet up with a hilarious robot named Floyd. You'll soon discover that this helpmate isn't always so helpful. He's much more interested in playing games like "hider and seeker." Though a frustrating character to deal with, Floyd gives the game a lot of personality.
The object of the game isn't immediately clear. You roam the planet with your newfound friend and investigate ruins. It takes a little looking to discover what you have to do.
The extremely detailed descriptions of all the locations are first-rate. The lack of graphics is never a problem because the text is much more informative than a picture could ever be. And the computer accepts complex sentences, which allows for all sorts of possibilities. One of the great things about Planetfall is that it can respond to many of the crazy things you type in. Sometimes the only way out of a situation is through an off-the-wall command.
Planetfall is unlike many text adventures. It offers more than just a challenging trip into a fantasy world; it also offers a lot of laughs.
PAUL AND DAVID SCHOEMAN, 14 New York, New York
This article appeared in
K-Power
Apr 1984
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
