''Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom'' is a collection of 33
computer games from
interactive fiction pioneer
Infocom, and the top 6 winners of the 1995
Interactive Fiction Competition
The Interactive Fiction Competition (also known as IFComp) is one of several annual competitions for works of interactive fiction. It has been held since 1995. It is intended for fairly short games, as judges are only allowed to spend two hours pla ...
, released in 1996. All 39 games are combined on a single cross-platform CD-ROM, which also includes
PDFs of all the Infocom games' instructions, maps, and hint booklets.
Infocom was closed in 1989 by its then-parent company
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
. Still holding the
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
to nearly all the past Infocom titles, Activision bundled them together in this collection, following up the earlier ''
Lost Treasures of Infocom'' series. The Infocom games included are:
* ''
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur''
* ''
Ballyhoo
The ballyhoo halfbeak or ballyhoo (''Hemiramphus brasiliensis'') is a baitfish of the halfbeak family (Hemiramphidae). It is similar to the Balao halfbeak (''H. balao'') in most features. Ballyhoo are frequently used as cut bait and for trollin ...
''
* ''
Beyond Zork
''Beyond Zork'' (full title: ''Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor'') is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and released by Infocom in 1987. It was one of the last games in the Zork series developed by Infocom (titles s ...
''
* ''
Border Zone
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
''
* ''
Bureaucracy''
* ''
Cutthroats''
* ''
Deadline
Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to:
* Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished
Arts, entertainment, and media Comics
* Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain
* ''Deadline'' (magazine), a British ...
''
* ''
Enchanter''
* ''
Hollywood Hijinx''
* ''
Infidel''
* ''
Journey
Journey or journeying may refer to:
* Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations
** Day's journey, a measurement of distance
** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road
Animals
* Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...
''
* ''
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 6 ...
''
* ''
The Lurking Horror
''The Lurking Horror'' is an interactive fiction game released by Infocom in 1987. The game was written by Dave Lebling and inspired by the horror fiction writings of H. P. Lovecraft (including his Cthulhu Mythos). The original release was for MS- ...
''
* ''
A Mind Forever Voyaging''
* ''
Moonmist
''Moonmist'' is an interactive fiction computer game written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom in 1986. The game was released simultaneously for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodor ...
''
* ''
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It''
* ''
Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky, and the eighth title published by Infocom in 1983. The original release included versions for Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, TRS-80, and IBM PC ...
''
* ''
Plundered Hearts
''Plundered Hearts'' is an interactive fiction video game created by Amy Briggs and published by Infocom in 1987. Infocom's only game in the romance novel, romance genre, it was released simultaneously for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, Ata ...
''
* ''
Seastalker
''Seastalker'' is an interactive fiction game written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom in 1984. It was released simultaneously for several popular computer platforms of the time, such as the Commodore 64, Apple II, and IB ...
''
* ''
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels''
* ''
Sorcerer''
* ''
Spellbreaker
''Spellbreaker'' is an interactive fiction computer game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1985, the third and final game in the "Enchanter Trilogy." It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atar ...
''
* ''
Starcross
Starcross is a village with a 2011 census recorded population of 1,737 situated on the west shore of the Exe Estuary in Teignbridge in the English county of Devon. The village is popular in summer with leisure craft, and is home to one of t ...
''
* ''
Stationfall''
* ''
Suspect''
* ''
Suspended''
* ''
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
''
* ''
Wishbringer
''Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Brian Moriarty and published by Infocom in 1985. It was intended to be an easier game to solve than the typical Infocom release and provide a good intro ...
''
* ''
The Witness''
* ''
Zork I
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expande ...
''
* ''
Zork II
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded an ...
''
* ''
Zork III
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded an ...
''
* ''
Zork Zero
''Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz'' is an interactive fiction computer game, written by Steve Meretzky over nearly 18 months and published by Infocom in 1988. Although it is the ninth and last ''Zork'' game released by Infocom before the company ...
''
The Interactive Fiction Competition winners included are:
* ''
A Change in the Weather
''A Change in the Weather'' is a 1995 interactive fiction (IF) video game.
Developed by Andrew Plotkin, the game is written in version five of the Inform programming language, and compiled for the Z-machine, a virtual machine that allows interac ...
''
* ''
The Magic Toyshop
''The Magic Toyshop'' (1967) is a British novel by Angela Carter. It follows the development of the heroine, Melanie, as she becomes aware of herself, her environment, and her own sexuality.
Plot summary
The novel starts with Melanie stealin ...
''
* ''
The Mind Electric
Tally Hall is an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December 2002. The band is known for upbeat melodies and whimsical lyrics. The members originally described their musical style as "wonky rock," later redefining their soun ...
''
* ''
The One That Got Away''
* ''
Toonesia''
* ''
Uncle Zebulon's Will''
The collection includes all the contents of the two ''Lost Treasures of Infocom'' collections except for ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it ...
'' and ''
James Clavell's Shōgun
''James Clavell's Shōgun'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1989. It was released for the Amiga, Apple II, DOS, and Macintosh. The game is based on the 1975 novel ''Shōgun'' by James ...
''. The rights to these two games, based on novels by
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...
and
James Clavell, respectively, had reverted to the novels' authors. Unlike the ''Lost Treasures'' collections, though, ''Masterpieces'' included the adult game ''Leather Goddesses of Phobos''.
Reception
A reviewer for ''
Next Generation'' scored the compilation a perfect five out of five stars. He praised the "functionally comprehensive" selection of Infocom games and the six Interactive Fiction Competition games, estimated the total playtime at 1,200 hours minimum, and said the gameplay "represents the pinnacle of well written, interactive fiction."
References
External links
*
Infocom games
1996 video games
DOS games
Classic Mac OS games
Activision video game compilations
Video games developed in the United States
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