The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Infocom/Virgin œ9.99
                  *** Mini-reviews ***
           (Text adventure for ST, Amiga and PC)

@~"Kedenan" - +This game was my introduction to Infocom adventures,
and what an introduction.  It took me two weeks to get past that
bulldozer, and I was just about to put the disc on the "put by and
forget about shelf" on a day when I was taking my wife out for the
evening to an Annual Dinner and Dance.  Sitting at the table
opposite me was a lady who happened to work in a computer software
shop. I asked her if she knew anything about this particular
adventure. She said no, but she had watched the series on
television. I asked her if she remembered how Arthur Dent avoided
getting flattened outside his house.  She said that that was easy,
he just laid down in front of the bulldozer, until the foreman
took his place.

So far as I was concerned we couldn't get back home quick enough
that night so that I could load up the adventure.  A combination
of beer, food, and more beer and the satisfaction of making a
start on the adventure made me sleep like a log.

The next day I got to the pub in the game, and drank too much
beer, so that was the end of the first attempt. I returned to my
saved position and kept sober in the pub this time and everything
went very well until I came across those damned babel fish, which
seem to have given every adventurer that I know more trouble than
anything else in this adventure. I ask you, if your house was just
going to be demolished, would you stop to pick up the junk mail?
I doubt it very much!

After a few weeks, a clue came to my notice in a monthly magazine,
so back to the start we had to go this time to make sure that the
junk mail was obtained. This time we could beat those cleaning
robots and end up with a babel fish firmly stuck in an ear.

The next major problem was in and out of the dark and realising
that the senses had a lot to to with it. I had lots of problems

with the Bugblatter Beast before I got through that particular
scenario.

I stuck with the adventure, determined to complete it, having got
so far, and when I did. I felt very elated to think that I had
managed to get to the end after a lot of cursing to myself over a
period of about six months.

I quickly wrote out my cheque and went down to the Post Office to
send for a copy of my next Infocom Adventure, The Leather
Goddesses of Phobos, but --- that is another story!

"Kedenan"
                         * * * * * *

@~Sue - +I remember buying this game very clearly, being a great fan
of the TV series, radio shows, records and book! Not having played
many Infocom adventures at that time, I enjoyed the packaging
before loading the game, especially the peril-sensitive sunglasses
and the 'Don't Panic!' badge.

Though I was familiar with the basic story behind the game, there
were enough differences, even in the early stages, to keep me
thinking. I got as far as escaping Earth without TOO many problems
but the next stage of darkness and lack of use of my senses had me
foxed for ages. Even the blatant clues given by the program after
I'd flailed around for a long time trying various inputs didn't
help for quite a while. As often happens, the answer is so obvious
in retrospect!

The Babel Fish was fun too, as was the Vogon poetry. We had a load
of queries about both on Helpline on Micronet! The other puzzle
that cropped up a lot was the Bugblatter Beast. But I liked the
idea of the mini-scenarios within the later stages of the game.

I was a bit disappointed by the ending of HHGTTG which was rather
abrupt and suddenly bumped your score up when you'd thought you
still had a fair way to go. What was more of a shame was the lack
of the promised follow-up. A good game, though, and certainly a
'must' for any fans of Douglas Adams.