Ratings and Reviews by Jonathan Blask

Few would accuse this game of having a great story. It's somewhat of a confusing hodgepodge of elements from preexisting games and movies (I, for one, am pretty over Monty Python references), but despite those things, I found this game an overall joy to play. Figuring out the world logic and its mechanics was very entertaining; there are things I could call red herrings but they're the kind that, for me, add a bit to the game's mystique.

After finishing the game, I went that further step and text dumped it just to see how much I had missed. For the most part, I had missed little except that at least one of the NPCs was more conversable than I had realized.

For the most part, I found the puzzles fair although a few instances of "guess the verb" came up.

This game might not have a memorable narrative, but as a distraction, it excels.

Escape from Ice Station Hippo was originally written to show off a Hugo pathfinding extension, but it joins the ranks of sample games that are entertaining in their own right. The writing is fun, and like his previous work, The Hugo Clock, there is one puzzle that should appeal to those nostalgic for "old school" puzzles.

In the version I originally played, I missed the clues as to what objects I should be looking for first. The game, at the time, was distributed with its own source so this wasn't much of a problem. Since then, I know McWright has finessed the game to better clue the player, but knowing what to do, I've pretty much lost all objectivity on the current difficulty. Just the same, I'd encourage others to try it out and see for themselves.