S.P.A.G. (Part 2) Taken from CompuServe by Alex McEwan @~Continued from Issue 32 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: "Stephen Granade" The Lurking Horror IBM Commercial 7.2 -Pa: 1.7 Wr: 1.8 Pl: 1.2 Ch: 1.3 +1.2- Late one night, you, a student at G.U.E. Tech, have braved a blizzard to get to the Computer Center to finish work on a paper. However, the simple assignment takes you to the horrific underside of the school. Lurking Horror's parser is, as expected, up to snuff. The writing is excellent; the game is firmly rooted in the Gothic horror used by Lovecraft and Poe. Dave Lebling has captured the essence of the genre well. The plot, however, is not as well developed. It contains some nice elements, but at times the disparate plot elements felt unconnected. The characters also lack flair. The best of the NPCs are the different slimy creatures you encounter, from a winged something to a slimy something. Both the NPCs and the plot could have been helped had the NPCs been obviously working together. The puzzles ranged from clever to puzzling. There were a few puzzles I didn't understand until I finished the game and looked in the hint book. My wildcard points were awarded on the basis of the game's atmosphere. The Lurking Horror is available in Activision's Lost Treasures of Infocom 1 package. While a worthy attempt to bring back the old Infocom games, the repackaging removes much of Infocom's clever presentation. The Lurking Horror is mediumly difficult, and is especially good if you're a fan of Gothic horror. - Editor's Notes: I agree with Stephen, for the most part. It would have been really nice had the various creatures seemed more like a sort of evil cult or had some semblence of cooperation among themselves. But, I'd have to say that the Hacker is my favorite character. Try asking him about Lovecraft some time. Pretty funny. The Lurking Horror is Infocom's only horror offering, but an effective, if not quite sparkling one. - =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: "Stephen Granade" Moonmist IBM Commercial 6.4 -Pa: 1.7 Wr: 1.2 Pl: 1.0 Ch: 1.6 +0.9- You are a famous young American detective who has been invited to Tresyllian Castle by your old friend Tamara Lynd. She is being haunted by the Tresyllian ghost, who seems intent on scaring her off. Can you solve the mystery of the castle? Infocom's parser handles most tasks with ease. The writing tries to convey a sense of the castle, but fails. Much of the description is left to the tour booklet included in the packaging, so the game itself neglects to add those touches necessary to make the locations spring to life. There are four variations possible in the game, but they did not add replayability as much as they made the plot feel random. Plot elements seemed tossed in mainly to differentiate each variation from the other three. The game is slightly redeemed by the characters; they help flesh it out. I awarded my wildcard points for the attempt to provide replayability. Moonmist is in the Lost Treasures of Infocom package, produced by Activision. Unfortunately, the LTOI package neglected to include the letter Tamara sent you; a minor omission, but one that bothered me. Moonmist is best used as an introduction to text-adventure mystery games, a gentle entry into the genre of _Deadline_ and _The Witness_. - Editor's Note: The letters left out of LTOI are available on ftp.gmd.de in /if-archive/infocom/shipped-documentation/. Stephen noted that Moonmist is a 'substandard' Infocom game, in his opinion. I tend to agree with him. It is one of the least remembered of the LTOI bunch. - =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: "Audrey A. DeLisle" Sanity Claus S10 I GMD 9 -PA 1.5 WR 2 PL 2 CH 1.5 * 2- *=humor You are Santa Claus and you must deliver all the presents before midnight in each time zone. This can be done in five trips. When you have to go to the same place, you will find a different puzzle. It is tedious, but fun if you have the patience. The author wrote S.O.S. (Son of Stagefright, both with AGT.) Understand that each trip will be shorter than the previous one. Your elf is a delightful companion. Author--Mike McCauley, has MAC version, sends map and hints on reg. - Editor's Note: Well, I can't comment much on this one. When I ftp'ed it, I got it fine, but then when I started to play I got a bad token error. Probably just a flub somewhere on my part though. Be aware of this before you spend the time getting it though, since it is over 300k. - @~To be continued next issue - o -