ADVENTURE TRENDS
by MICHAEL CIRAOLOAntic Staff Writer
You started out by blasting endless attack waves of zombie-like space
attackers. Then you mapped your way through a colossal cave and fought
trolls in the great underground empire of Zork. You carefully adjusted
fuel rates to land yourself on the moon.
Your taste in mind-challenging computer recreation
is a lot more sophisticated now. You demand innovation from the marketplace.
It's true that software designers still haven't come
up with a totally new kind of adventure game to stand alongside the established
standard formats such as - all-text puzzle explorations, visuals plus text,
graphics scrolling displays, fantasy role-playing (computerized dungeons
& dragons), space wars...even simulations and computerized strategy
board games.
Even so, there are many exciting developments in the
current generation of adventure games that will bring you new worlds to
explore on your Atari.
Today the barriers between different types of games
are blurring. You'll find role playing games with puzzles worthy
of text adventures, and interactive adventures featuring arcade-type graphics.
JUPITER MISSION 1999
This blurring of genres is evident in Avalon Hill's Jupiter Mission
1999. Contained within the game's four disks are elements of graphics/text
adventure, space war role-playing and arcade joystick games.
The varied elements in Jupiter Mission are tied together
by a story line. Government agents drag you from your home early
on a cold January morning and put you in charge of a solo mission to Jupiter.
This concept of a large-scale multiple element adventure
package holds a lot of potential, even if some sections of Jupiter Mission
1999 are perhaps overly reminiscent of classics such as Lunar Landing and
Missile Command.
Another interesting new development is the arrival of
easier adventure games for young people or younger beginners.
DRAGONS & TROLLS
There are even adventure games for children who have just learned to
read. Sierra On-Line's Dragon's Keep and Troll's Tale are graphics/text
adventures intended for kids as young as seven.
Young players locate a series of objects hidden by the
troll or dragon-with help from warm graphics, suggestions by the computer,
and a map that comes with the package.
On a typical Troll's Tale screen, you'll find the top
80 percent of the display filled with a picture of a room or a field.
Below will be lines of text:
"You are facing the cave." A menu of options follows.
"Go into cave," or "Turn on flashlight," or "Turn around and go into the
field."
If you were to select, say, "Go into cave," without turning
on the light, the next screen would show the colorful, impressive troll
and warn you. "You are in the dark. Turn on light or leave
the cave."
By the time you read this, possibly the Windham Classics
line of interactive fiction for children will be available from Spinnaker
Software. This series of graphics/text adventures is to be based
on classic literature. The first Atari release will be Swiss Family
Robinson.
By the way, you may have heard about Spinnaker's other
new line, Trillium, which will feature adaptations of novels by big-name
science fiction writers. Unfortunately, at this writing Spinnaker
has no plans to produce these games for the Atari-a mistake that will hopefully
be corrected by the time this is in print.
SEASTALKER
A game like Infocom's Seastalker can be enjoyed by both adult and older
children who are beginning adventurers. This text adventure was scripted
by Jim Lawrence, an experienced writer of books in the Tom Swift, Nancy
Drew, Hardy Boys vein.
Seastalker enlists you in the Aquatic Discovery Squad.
You must save the undersea Aquadome from a sea monster and saboteurs.
Seastalker is very forgiving on the beginning adventurer,
offering several types of clues and extensive background information.
It is a good introduction to the all-text world of Infocom for players
who would be quite lost if dropped into a game like Suspended with absolutely
no adventure experience.
But don't get the idea you can simply walk through this
game. Seastalker is tough enough to keep a relatively experienced
adventurer occupied for six to eight hours before the Aquadome is rescued.
In some more last-minute news, Infocom just announced
Cutthroats, the latest game in the Tales of Adventure series. Cutthroat
puts you on Hardscrabble Island, where you're a deep-sea diver on a treasure
hunt with an untrustworthy crew. The game is written by Michael Berlyn,
author of Infidel and Suspended.
Just as some companies have turned to noted books and
authors for adaptations to interactive fiction, so has Datasoft turned
to television. In The Dallas Quest, a not too inspiring graphics/text
adventure, you become a detective trying to uncover a missing oil field
map. The game contains several puzzles based on peculiar logic or
inconsistent with the mood of the TV show.
The Ultima series, created by Lord British, combined the
puzzling text adventures with scrolling map graphics and fantasy role-playing
elements.
QUESTRON
Strategic Simulation's Questron is a perfect warm-up for the Ultima
games. Even though Questron's scrolling map contains 57,000 squares,
it's a simpler game than the classic Ultimas. Still, you'll find
plenty of challenge as you move about in a strange land, encountering powerful
beings who may be either good or evil. You must survive and also
complete specific quests.
When you feel confident in the world of fantasy quests,
step up to Ultima III, Lord British's latest adventure. In Ultima
III you can go questing with a team of four characters simultaneously.
Create your fantasy A-Team from five races and 11 professions, equip them
from a menu of 16 weapons and 32 magic spells.
Ultima 111, published by Lord British's own company, Origin
Systems, upgrades the graphics, combat options, navigational strategies,
and dungeon scenes from the game's two predecessors. Your adventure
in this fantasy world is more realistic because of the increased detail
and interaction possibilitites.
ULTIMA IV
Antic received a special Lord British communique for this issue. (His
Lordship is actually Richard Garriott, who's in his early 20s and the son
of a space shuttle astronaut.)
"As Lord British thought of the future again and touched
the silver snake around his neck, he saw Ultima IV laid out beautifully
before him. A new age had come upon the land of Sosaria. Evil
still existed, but many had discovered the virtues of friendship and trust.
All of Lord British's subjects would need the power of good in order to
complete eight quests and become an Avatar. Life would be lived in
a world 16 times larger than its predecessor.
"Lord British wondered how much longer the quests would
continue. He looked out at the hardware surrounding himself and realized
that he had just begun to explore the capabilities of the computer.
He knew that his journeys were far from over . . ."
And Infocom also predicts major advances for its all-text
adventure games. Product manager Michael Dornbrook says, "There will
be effectively no limit on the number of people or rooms in a game.
Think of all the limitations in current games and knock them down.
Imagine many current restraints on game play eliminated."
Thus ... adventure games have emerged from the caves as
the quest for more reality continues ...
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION
The Dallas Quest
Datasoft
19808 Nordhoff Place
Chatsworth, CA 91311
(818) 701-5161
48K disk, $34.95
Dragon's Keep
Troll's Tale
Sierra On-Line
Sierra On-Line Bldg.
Coarsegoid, CA 93614
(209) 683-6858
48K disk with BASIC, $29.95 each.
Jupiter Mission 1999
Avalon Hill Games
4517 Harford Rd
Baltimore, MD 21214
(301) 254-5300
48K disk, $50.00
Questron
Strategic Simulations, Inc.
883 Stierlin Rd., Bldg. A-200
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415) 964-1200
40K disk with BASIC, $39.95
Seastalker
Infocom, Inc.
55 Wheeler St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 492-1031
48K disk, $49.95
Ultima III
Origin Systems, Inc.
P.O. Box 99
1545 Isgood St. #7
North Andover, MA 08125
(617) 681-0609
48K disk, $59.95
Windham Classics
Spinnaker Software
One Kendall Sq.
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 494-1200
48K disk, $26.95