Planetfall
| Implementers |
Steve Meretzky (as S. Eric Meretzky) |
| Release Year | 1983 |
| Genre | Science Fiction |
| Difficulty | Standard |
"Join the Patrol, and see the Galaxy!" You took the poster's advice, bait and all, and marched right over to the recruitment station near your home on the backwater planet of Gallium. Images of exotic worlds, strange and colorful aliens, and Deep Space heroism had danced in your head as you signed the dotted line. And since that day the closest you've come to Deep Space heroism was scrubbing down the radioactive leper colony on Ishmael-3.
But suppose that jumbo fortune cookie you got a Qwang's Take-Out Asteroid last shore leave was right. Maybe you will indeed narrowly escape disaster. It's even possible that you'll actually travel to an unknown corner of the Universe, where you'll save a doomed planet -- or die in the attempt. In fact, we'll guarantee it -- every crumb of it -- because that's just the way the cosmic cookie crumbles.
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From the Library (13 articles)
Planetfall Review
Planetfall departs somewhat from Infocom's previous science-fiction fare. The heroes of Starcross and Suspended were an asteroid miner exploring the solar system in a one-man spacecraft and a man awakened from cryogenic suspension to save a planet from its own malfunctioning control systems. The character whose part you play in Planetfall is more of a comic antihero; the setting you find yourself in at the outset is reminiscent of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A life that otherwise might be viewed as glorious and exciting — that of an officer in the Stellar Patrol — is treated satirically, shown for what it really is (or could be): pure drudgery. . . .
~3 minute read
Planetfall Review
If you pet Floyd, he snuggles up to you; if you leave him, he runs to catch up, shouting, "Hey, wait for Floyd!" He loves to play, but he'll give his life for you. Incidentally, he's a robot. . . .
~2 minute read
Infocom Does It Again... And Again Review
With each new release, each new venture into a genre they have made famous, the people at Infocom, authors of Zork and, Deadline, seem to reaffirm a commitment to a level of quality and innovation that has guaranteed them not only a fiercely loyal following, but also an undisputed position at the forefront of the computer adventure market. . . .
~7 minute read
Planetfall Review
PLANETFALL (NA / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) from INFOCOM, is a humorous text adventure which begins aboard the Stellar Patrol Starship Feinstein. You joined the Patrol to find adventure, and you've found it -- your duties consist of scrubbing floors and getting demoted. Things get better though as your ship is destroyed and you escape just in time to crash land on a deserted planet. Actually, the planet does have one inhabitant of a sort -- Floyd, an enthusiastic but not-too-bright robot that you find in an empty laboratory building. With Floyd's help, you must set about unravelling the mysteries concerning the planet. . . .
~1 minute read
Planetfall Review
Planetfall is a text adventure game that begins with you, a lowly ensign, scrubbing the decks of the Stellar Patrol Ship Feinstein. Your life has never seemed worse, and your future looks very bleak, boring, and uneventful. Right about this time your ship is rocked by an explosion. In order to save your life you rush to the nearest escape pod and are jettisoned out into space. By using your wits, you are able to ride the escape pod down to the nearest inhabited planet. There you are marooned on one of two islands on the planet. . . .
~2 minute read
Planetfall Review
Would you like to send a post card from another planet to one of your friends? You would! Well, you'll find three of them in the Official Document File (ODF) that comes with the latest (and best) science fiction adventure from Infocom, Planetfall. These are real 11Oth-century post cards; the one from "Historic Ramos II" is my favorite (they even have old fashioned rocket ship rides there). . . .
~4 minute read
Planetfall Review
Swabbing the decks of the S.P.S. Feinstein is routine work. (When you joined the Stellar Patrol, you knew you'd have to clean up your act!) The bane of your existence, Ensign Blather, is breathing down your neck as usual. . but the next thing you know, you're the sole survivor for a shipwreck in space hurtling toward an unknown planet in a tiny escape pod. . . .
~2 minute read
Embark on the Road to Adventure Review
The first thing you notice about an Infocom game is its packaging. Quite simply, Infocom produces the most imaginative packages on the market. Remember the Suspended package, with the skull-mask eyes that stare at you from counter tops? Or Deadline's detective case file? . . .
~10 minute read
Planetfall News
Infocom's unique form of computer software, dubbed interactive fiction, is exemplified in this science fiction text adventure. The adventure commences through written commands between the user and the computer; at no time do graphics appear. . . .
~2 minute read
Planetfall Walkthrough Spoilers
You're a lowly member of the prestigious Stellar Patrol, but life isn't as glamorous as you'd expected. As the game begins, you find yourself scrubbing floors under the scrutiny of a sadistic ensign. After an odd series of events, you wind up on a deserted planet. But why is the planet deserted? And what do you do while you're there? For clues, read on. . . .
~1 minute read
Planetfall Review
The end justifies the means in Planetfall -— even murder, after a fashion —- and those who take their scruples into the game with them should abandon all hope of winning. . . .
~1 minute read
Here's a second look at three classic titles Marketing
Fooblitzky is a particularly special Infocom product for two reasons. First, it is our only multiplayer computer board game (2-4 players), and second, it uses whimsical graphics -— yes, graphics, to delight and captivate players. In A Mind Forever Voyaging, by Steve Meretzky, you leave puzzle-solving behind as you explore realistic worlds of the future and make decisions about the fate of the human race. Travel to the 114th century in author Steve Meretzky’s first story, Planetfall. Planetfall is a hilarious science fiction game full of adventure and galactic intrigue. . . .
~6 minute read
LGOP and Planetfall Solid Gold at $14.95 News
During the past year, we have begun to confer Solid Gold status on certain venerable titles. These are best-sellers which have begun to slow down. In some ways, our Solid Gold software can be compared to paperback books —- the whole game is there but in a simpler package. However, in the case of Solid Gold software, we're adding something more —- on-screen hints. At $14.95 retail, these wonderful old titles are getting a second life and attracting a new group of computer owners to interactive fiction. . . .
~2 minute read
In the Box (21 images)
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Historical Sales Data
Weekly Sales Ranking
Top weekly ranking: #10
Weeks in top 20: 18
Source: Billboard's "Top Computer Software" charts, ostensibly prepared from retailer-provided sales data. Billboard began publishing software charts on 8 October 1983 and published the charts weekly until 31 August 1985, then biweekly or monthly beginning 14 September 1985. Billboards editors considered computer games a vulgar art and never took them seriously, making many typographical and factual errors in the retail charts, eventually discontinuing them on 27 September 1986.
Units Shipped By Year
| 1983 | |
| 1984 | |
| 1985 | |
| 19862 | |
| 87-893 |
Total units shipped: 80,009
Overall ranking: 10 of 32
Accounts for 3% of units sold
2 Data for 1986 includes units shipped through June 1986 only
3 Data for April 1987 - March 1989
Source: Internal Infocom documents, archived by Steve Meretezky
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