Mission's End
        Written by L. R. Nogg Productions using AGT

                Reviewed by John Ferris (PC)

Yes, this game is really written by L. R. Nogg productions, I kid
you not.  Honest. L. R. Nogg is described as one of "Hollywood's
brightest up-and-coming writers." Now my opinions of Hollywood
films are generally not very good (although there are some fine
exceptions) and mirror my opinions of the computer games market.
If the studios really got their way, we would still be watching
Keystone Cops movies since they tend to treat anything new with
deep suspicion. If George Lucas had not been a dedicated sort of
guy, Star Wars would never have been made. They were so negative
that he was able to buy the merchandising rights for very little!

Anyway, that diatribe has very little to do with Mission's End or
L. R. Nogg Productions, except that I treat anything Hollywood
with scepticism. This is my review and I can write what I want.
The more I write the higher up the SynTax contribution chart I
get. Now...

@~Two pages of drivel removed ... Sue

Mission's End is a demonstration of a "Personalised Adventure
Game."  A PAG is similar to those children's books that are
occasionally marketed, where the main character in the story has
the child's name. The child's friends, brothers, sisters, pet
shark or whatever are also included.  Well, a PAG is an electronic
version of that, although aimed at adults.  Mission's End contains
phrases such as

"...another fine product of "PLAYER'S NAME" Pharmaceuticals."

And so on. The game itself is complete and can be solved, although
I gave up on it before I had finished it. The game reminds me a
little bit of Planetfall, but has the offbeat humour of an
Adventions game (Deepspace Drifter, Ditch Day Drifter etc) or
perhaps it's the general humour of the US college type.

The game starts in a bathroom with a severe hangover with no idea
what is going on. Eventually I figured out that I was the captain
of a spacecraft that had been severely damaged.  I either had to
get it repaired or effect an escape through the escape hatches,
which required a security code. I came across an unfriendly green
mould and an alien werewolf. Both situations might count as sudden
death in a technical sense. Neither "creature" would allow me to
leave the location until I either disposed of them or was disposed
of. I had no idea they were there until I entered the locations
and so if I wasn't carrying the right object, I was finished.
Unsudden death, perhaps.

To play, the game falls between a mid-late eighties game and an
almost Infocom. There are a lot of doors to be opened by guessing
which of the three keys would do the trick. The parser was
torturous at times, which made the game less enjoyable than it
should have been. There were a few flashes of humour, but nothing
outstanding. I might be a little jaded, but I had been in similar
situations before and really three locked door puzzles in a row
didn't really inspire me to continue playing.  There was a really
annoying switch on a "transformation pistol" that managed to avoid
my attempts to operate it. This might have been intended as a
funny response, but it was neither funny nor logical. There must
be a better way to stop me pressing an inanimate switch than that.

I have played worse games than this, believe me it is not really a
bad game. It could have done with a little tidying up, a better
parser and a few more interesting puzzles.  Beginners might enjoy
playing it, the instructions included at the start of the game
were pretty comprehensive. The "help" command invariably replied
with a blank line. If anyone does play this and manages to get rid
of the werewolf, I'd be mildly interested to know about it.






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