Review of Fairlight Castle, et al

[john]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Since Paul Panks announced the release of several text adventures
written in BASIC, I figured this would be a good time to do a few
mini-reviews, as sort of a warm up for the IF Comp. What follows are
my mini-reviews of Fairlight Castle, B-Venture, Dunric's 8K Adventure,
The Quest for Waitomo Cave, The Melarkian, Tiny BASIC Adventure 5k,
and Halite.

Preparation

Since Windows XP does not come with BASIC, I did a Google search and
found SmallBASIC, a free BASIC interpreter. This worked adequately for
the purpose of this review, though the source code for each game had
to be slightly modified to work properly as SmallBASIC does not use
"Screen" or "Clear", for example.

Overview

Each game is basically the same. They all use a two-word parser,
contain 20 or so rooms and have the same items (lanterm, oil, rope,
etc). NPC interaction is minimal, except to kill them or to buy items
from a clerk.

Example Room

Here's an example room description from Fairlight Castle:

YOU ARE STANDING INSIDE A LARGE CHURCH. A VAST ALTAR RISES ABOVE THE
ROWS OF PEWS BELOW, AROUND CURTAINS HANGING DOWN FROM THE CEILING. THE
ALTAR GLIMMERS FAINTLY IN THE DARKNESS SURROUNDING THE GRASSY VILLAGE.
A ROOM STANDS TO THE EAST OF THE ALTAR.
Obvious exits: < north west >

Maybe it's just me, but if a room description states, "A ROOM STANDS
TO THE EAST OF THE ALTAR." I expect there to be an exit to the east.
In this case there is not.

Here's an example from "The Quest for Waitomo Cave"

The Ghost Walk continues before you, opening up into a great chamber
ahead. You notice some strange formations on either side of the
cavern.
Obvious exits here: < north south >
A cool wind blows from the southeast.
The sun shines and you feel better.


The last line ("The sun shines and you feel better.") does not fit in
with the cavern theme, unless maybe the "great chamber" has an opening
at the top allowing sunlight in. This is never fully explained.


Combat

Combat consists of entering command "kill <whatever>" then repeatedly
hitting the space bar until you kill <whatever> or die. Here's an
example:

The werewolf attacks:
It grazed you slightly...

Your HP:95
Their HP:216

>
You attack:
You grazed the skin of werewolf...

< More >
*** Press any key ***
>
The werewolf attacks:
It grazed you slightly...

Your HP:90
Their HP:210

>
You attack:
You grazed the skin of werewolf...


And so on until for many "turns":


The werewolf attacks:
A THOR-LIKE BLOW!
The werewolf crushed you into atoms!

Your HP:0
Their HP:1

Alas, you have died...

The werewolf has defeated you in battle.
The game is over...
< Press ENTER key >
Thanks for playing!

In other words, save often since there is no stopping the
non-interactive combat sequence once it starts.

Conclusion

I found the seven games to be duplicates of one another; play one and
you have played them all. The plots are generic and did not draw me
into the game. The non-interactive combat system was boring. Fans of
70s and 80s text adventures may find these bring back fond memories,
but those wishing for meatier offerings may want to wait for the IF
Comp or just browse through the IF archive.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

A fair review, considering I wrote the last two games in under 5 hours
each. Most of the 5-hour speed-IF are Scott Adams-style clones, which I
adored as a youth. I loved the game Castle Adventure by David Malmberg.

When I was in the psychiatric ward last year, there was this tree that
used to have birds on it, and the birds would often chirp down at the
patients, who would either be smoking, banging their heads against the
walls, or walking endlessly in circles.

This is not an exaggeration. I'm telling the truth here. The State Health
Care System in Arizona is seriously under budget.

Sincerely,

Paul Allen Panks
dunric@yahoo.com