The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a classic Interactive Fiction game. Though divergent from the source material, the main characters, locations, and concepts are here. Unlike the book, death can come quickly if Arthur fails to observe his surroundings, collect inventory, talk to people, and consult the Guide. Don't panic!
Reviews View More
You know this game is faithful when the first item listed in Arthur Dent's inventory is literally NO TEA.
As an adult I can see what Adams and Meretsky were trying to accomplish with the form. Heck, even as an 8-9-year-old, I could tell this was a special game. It's how I learned what dressing-gowns and analgesics are. The tone of narration, and even the logic of the puzzles, connected with me and pushed me to read H2G2, which I loved.
But mid-to-late period Infocom had a psychological complex about difficult puzzles, so I never made it past the Babel fish machine. It feels like it took months (so maybe weeks?) to get there. Such a waste.
But mid-to-late period Infocom had a psychological complex about difficult puzzles, so I never made it past the Babel fish machine. It feels like it took months (so maybe weeks?) to get there. Such a waste.
This is one of the funniest games ever made! Makes sense on account of Douglas Adams himself wrote it. It's playable on the BBC website for free. Do yourself a favor and check it out. 10/10
Would score higher if not for numerous ways to fail.
By far the most fun text adventure game I've played, in large part because the source material is so funny and easy to remember, but also because it takes huge liberties with making scenarios where you take alternate paths or screw up: Douglas Adams sure put a lot of soul into writing for this game. Of course it's still as hard and nonsensical as other text adventure games of its time, but it goes in Hitchhiker's absurdist favour, and it makes up for it by having a really ingenious hints system that acts like a walkthrough which you can activate at any time during the game.
The range of environments and the scenario the game follows is very limited, though, and only covers about half of the first book/radio series. Beating it with a walkthrough is very quick(and navigating the hub world gets grating and boring incredibly fast), but the primary fun of playing Hitchhiker's is to see all the replies of the parser and the various ways you can have fun.
If you've never read/listened/seen Hitchhiker and already hate text adventure games, you'll be hopelessly lost. If you've never played a text adventure before, don't do it until you've tried some other Infocom games(I recommend "A Mind Forever Voyaging", "Deadline" or "Starcross"), or unless you're well acquainted with Hitchhiker.
(Glitchwave project #010)
The range of environments and the scenario the game follows is very limited, though, and only covers about half of the first book/radio series. Beating it with a walkthrough is very quick(and navigating the hub world gets grating and boring incredibly fast), but the primary fun of playing Hitchhiker's is to see all the replies of the parser and the various ways you can have fun.
If you've never read/listened/seen Hitchhiker and already hate text adventure games, you'll be hopelessly lost. If you've never played a text adventure before, don't do it until you've tried some other Infocom games(I recommend "A Mind Forever Voyaging", "Deadline" or "Starcross"), or unless you're well acquainted with Hitchhiker.
(Glitchwave project #010)