The Hobbit

                   Written by Peter Clark
                   Reviewed by Bev Truter

Peter Clark decided to rewrite the old Melbourne House version of
Tolkien's tale, with the easy-to-use text game utility ACE. He
mentioned that someone once commented to him that this creaky old
text adventure by Melbourne House would probably benefit greatly
by being completely rewritten, so he took up the challenge, and
'The Hobbit' (sort of revisited and rewritten) was born. And what
an improvement on the old version it turns out to be! Peter has
retained many of the clunky old location descriptions, but has
lengthened the game, added plenty of 'extras' here and there (keep
an eye out for several really groan- inducing puns), and generally
updated and modernized the old game into a far more playable and
interesting version of 'The Hobbit'.

Like the older version, you begin Peter's 'Hobbit' in your home at
Bag End. From here on until you get captured by a goblin the two
versions are fairly similar, but once you escape from the goblin's
cell this version parts company with the original. There are many
more tasks to perform and people to meet before you can confront
the dragon, and probably making a map (ahhhhh!  One of the great
joys of text-adventuring...) is essential if you want to find your
way swiftly about the gameworld.

Since playing Peter's version, I quickly read through the solution
to the old C64 version of 'The Hobbit', and found it similar in
style to that other Melbourne House classic 'Lord of the Rings',
which managed to turn Tolkien's splendid creation into a
frustrating, plodding , nit-picking quest; where one trudges
endlessly eastwards (I remember filling 4 foolscap pages with a
single line of easterly-moving locations) from Frodo's house to
the Inn at Bree. Although not quite as relentlessly plodding as
LOTR, the MH version of 'The Hobbit' appeared to be similarly
irritating in its lugubrious way of dealing with communication
between you (as Bilbo) and the game characters.

However, Peter moves speedily away from this type of ponderous
gameplay, and turns his revamped 'Hobbit' into an amusing little
game - no nail-biting or heavy angst here. As young Bilbo Baggins
all you have to do is find the Dragon in his cave on Lonely
Mountain, dispose of him, and return home to your little burrow at
Bag End; with some help along the way from Thorin, the Bard, and a
couple of obliging shopkeepers. In fact, I much prefer Peter's
extended version of this game to the shorter Melbourne House
version; and as a bonus Peter has ditched the cumbersome way of
communicating with Thorin throughout the game, and given Thorin
some snazzy new equipment to make life much easier for the player.
Gone is the old "Say to Thorin, 'pick me up'. Say to Thorin, 'blah
blah...'. Instead, Thorin rushes to your aid (on most occasions!)
with a simple 2-word command from you, sizes up the situation, and
provides assistance without any further hassles if you ASK THORIN
ABOUT <object>.  Brilliant!

There are a few in-jokes during the course of the game. For
example, read the posters at the Theatre to discover what show is
currently playing. Examine the scenery in all locations to get the
most out of some puns, eg, the "sandy shore" is a hoot, as is the
"empty place". There are several minor changes in name - for
instance, the Dragon Smaug has become Snodgrass.  Another surprise
is that the ending of Peter's version veers off on a thoroughly
unexpected tangent, which might upset some diehard Tolkien fans,
and also some feminists!

Peter's ACE version of 'The Hobbit' is exactly what a text game
should be - it's a gentle, affectionate look at (and improvement
on) the Melbourne House version, and deserves to be played by
everyone who enjoyed Tolkien and/or classic old text games.









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