~3 minute readGAMELINE
Suspended
Suspended
By Michael Berlyn
Probably the newest and neatest wrinkle in adventuring is the ability to separately control multiple characters simultaneously. Not content to accomplish this logistically difficult trick with two or three characters, Michael Berlyn gives the player six different robots to control in Suspended. Each robot can be sent scurrying around the adventure, performing different tasks at the same time. There are occasions that require the combined talents of several of the robots working together to solve a particular problem.
The six robots all have their own personalities and attributes. The robot called Iris is the eyes of the team. Waldo has the strength to pick up and move heavy objects, or the delicacy to perform microscopic operations. Auda hears, while Sensa senses. Whiz is your link to the main computer banks. There, detailed information on a wide variety of subjects can be gleaned. Poet is the real delight of the game. Resembling a psychedelic James Joyce, Poet waxes eloquent on anything he is asked to describe. Deciphering these verbal clues is slightly harder than understanding the pronouncements of the Delphi Oracle, yet important hints are often contained therein.
The player is not physically active in Suspended. The body is in cryogenic suspension, but the mind is active. It is your mind that controls the actions of each robot via computer link-up. The scenario places you aboard an orbiting space station years in the future, where scientists have finally managed to control the weather. Large meteorology stations around the globe artificially maintain perfect climate. Substantial building structures are no longer needed to protect people. Most transportation is either by outdoor moving walkways or by aerial taxis. Food supply is completely computer-controlled. This space station was set up many years before to oversee weather, transportation, and food production. Within the station are the controls for maintaining perfect balance between all the factors. While most of the routine maintenance can be handled by the computers and the robots, a human was installed aboard as a fail-safe device.
The player is awakened from cryogenic slumber to find all hell breaking loose. Alarms are clanging and explosions are rocking the space station. Parts of the station's controls have been damaged, throwing the weather out of control on the planet's surface. The population below is totally unprepared to cope with this crisis and is suffering massive casualties. Without ever leaving the cryogenic chamber, you must repair the space station utilizing the various skills of the robots.
Unlike most adventure games, Suspended can be played over and over again, even though the solution is known. At the end of the game, the player is told how many people died while repairs were being done. More efficient means of using the robots wil! yield lower casualties.
Once again Infocom earns praise for continued breakthroughs in packaging and merchandising. The box is a real eye-catcher. Inside is a large game board showing the layout of the space station and stick-on disks for each of the robots. You do not have to keep the current locations of each robot in your head.
Suspended represents another milestone in the continuing evolution of the interactive computer novel. This form of literature may be one of the most important waves of the electronic age, and Michael Berlyn and Infocom will certainly be riding on the crest of that literary wave.
Apple II, II Plus, IIe; 48K. Atari 400, 800, or 1200; 32K. TRS-80. Commodore. IBM pc. CP/M 8-inch. Osborne. DEC. NEC. $49.95 from Infocom, 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; (617) 492-1031.
This article appeared in
Softline
May-Jun 1983
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
