Ratings and Reviews by jgerrie

This game is not for serious gamers. It will be of interest only to those interested in BASIC programming and the modest programs that could be created on 8-bit home computers from the early 1980s. It might be worth a look for those with some nostalgia for such systems or with some acquaintance with the book it was published in.

"The Quest" is a very simple BASIC two-word parser text adventure meant to be an example of the programming techniques needed to create adventures of one's own. It was included in a book meant to teach those techniques to budding BASIC programmers using the early 8-bit computers. The code is very adaptable and fairly straightforward. Unlike more complex syntax parsing engines, such as the one created by Scott Adams (which was published in BYTE in December 1980), by the time Lampton was writing his book and sample program the conventions of text adventuring had become so formalized that undue complexities could be omitted. People were comfortable with the two word system and the basic vocabulary had become fairly standardized (GET,PUT,LOOK,EXAMINE,INV,GO, etc.). The program might be useful for someone wishing to write their own BASIC text adventure for an 8-bit computer. However, I would rate "The Tower" example program for Compute's Guide to Writing Text Adventures as more flexible and more feature rich. The Tower allows the use of single letter commands such as N,S,E,W for motion and I for inventory, while "The Quest" does not. Having to type "GO NORTH" continuously instead if simply "N" is a little tedious and annoying.

The game itself is simple. There is a small number of puzzles, only a couple ways to fail. The puzzles are coherent and so I would warn against giving up too quickly and sneaking a look at the code if you are stumped. This is not one of those BASIC adventures with incoherent puzzles requiring almost completely arbitrary acts to solve. I promise you, you will get there in the end with a little extra thought. If all you're looking for is an hour of reminiscence of what 8-bit computing was like when you were a kid, this game will fit the bill.

This game is very interesting, because, at least in my experience of Basic text adventures, this is the only multi-player game I have ever come across. Each player gets a number of turns to explore the world of the game, which is quite extensive. You can either be a baddie alien, in which case you go around trying to kill the humans you come across. Or you're a human character, in which case you have to collect various items and interpret various clues, in order to figure out how to thwart the alien invaders. The game allows you to play alone, but the story and puzzles are fairly simple (I've only played through as a human). I image the time pressure created by trying to complete your appointed tasks before the other player completes theirs (or "players"--it allows up to 5 to play), must add a nice element to the challenge. I can't imagine the game is much fun to play as just the alien character alone, as it would simply be an exercise in moving until you have run across all the human players and killed them. The combat seems somewhat random, although there are weapons that can be picked up at various locations in the game. I'm unsure if they affect combat. There might be opportunities as an alien character to interfere by seizing or moving objects with the other player's ability to complete the game. However, combat can make the players drop things, if you are willing to risk possible death, so there are ways for human characters to win objects back. I am unsure if, when played with others, it is recommended that they not be allowed to view the screen, but I suspect that this might be so (or an "option"). In that way, if you're an alien you can hide or move objects, and the other player will have a harder time finding them or knowing when they need to confront you to try to force you to drop them. If you're a human character, it would give you the opportunity to try to hide or use circuitous routes to get to objects unmolested. I suspect knowing the original book series would also add to game play (although I think names have been changed to protect the original author against a copyright challenge--for example the series is called "The White Mountains" series, not "High Mountains"). I played a version of the program ported to the TRS-80 MC-10 from a version for the VZ200. In the course of porting the program I slightly condensed some of the descriptions and fixed some grammar and spelling errors.

This 8-bit BASIC two-word parser provides a rich set of locations and a complex set of puzzles. It also avoids having (as far as I was able to determine) numerous completely arbitrary deaths, which is a common feature of games of this genre. However, it suffers from a typical fault of many 8-bit adventures. Many of the puzzles depend on the use of specific verb-noun phrases when what are essentially synonymous phrases fail to achieve the same result. I don't find this so glaring a fault when there is some way that this characteristic is clearly indicated, such as by the provision of extensive help/hints, humorous responses that indicate greater precision is required, etc., but these are largely lacking. It also suffers from the fault of inconsistent use of the SEARCH/LOOK/EXAMINE verbs, which means a lot of extra typing is required to make sure that all the clues are discovered. There also appear to be inconsistencies with the OPEN and UNLOCK verbs. The cassette label describes the game as "A Terrifyingly Difficult Adventure." I would describe it as "annoyingly difficult." However, if you are someone who doesn't mind typing and appreciates complex puzzles, especially one's that are informed by a rich understanding of the arcane folklore of European magic traditions, this adventure might be worth a try.

This simple adventure, written at a time when computers typically only had 16K of memory, is a classic. It was originally written for the tiny, ZX81 computer, a machine that many Brits got their first taste of computing from in the early 1980's, and was therefore one of the first experiences that many people in that country would have had of text adventuring. And because of the limitations of the machine, they would have had to endure a flickering black-and-white screen *every time* they typed something in. This fact when combined with the widely acknowledged fact that this program none-the-less initiated many Brits into a lifelong love of IF, stands as a testimony to the fundamental charms of this early adventure. The puzzles are not diabolical, and there are plenty of hints. If it may seem a little easy now, this is only because it had to blaze the trail in its own time of introducing people to the entire software genre. The outer space theme has a certain fantasy and even espionage tinge to it. None-the-less the story and world maintain a basic coherence, which is something that is often lacking from these early adventures. There is a nice mixture of the standard tropes (Maze of twisty passages) and some completely novel puzzles. I think this game deserves the honour of being considered the Adventure A" (much like Colossal Cave" is to the U.S.) of its country of origin.