Hollywood Hijinx

Hollywood Hijinx is not one of Infocom's best games on any of several counts: the setting is comparatively mundane, the puzzles are mostly very implausible, and the plot is thin. It's also considerably shorter to play than some of the old standards.

Despite all of which, it remains a solidly entertaining entry in the basic genre of Treasure Hunt in a Relative's Weird, Puzzle-trapped House. (See also: Finding Martin, Letters from Home, The Mulldoon Legacy, Mystery House, etc.) There are a couple of very ingenious set piece puzzles that are worth playing the game for all by themselves; and the tone is upbeat and engaging throughout.

Hollywood Hijinx is one of Infocom’s unsung gems. Your rich aunt has just passed on, and you were the favorite nephew chosen to inherit the large fortune. However, she needs to know if you are clever enough to be worthy of holding the family finances. She has given you twelve hours to explore her mansion and find the ten “treasures,” or leftover props from her husband’s popular B-movies.

The twelve-hour time limit would normally annoy me, but in my first playthrough I just relaxed, created an intricately detailed map, and explored each room leisurely. I ran out of time (and even made the game unwinnable by messing with some props), but once I learned what to do it was a blast to run through it one more time.

Hijinx captures the flavor of the times and the B-movie industry wonderfully, and is funny throughout. Normally I'm one to resort to a walkthrough pretty quickly, but for some reason I found the puzzles here fairly straightforward with only a couple of mind-benders. Regardless of whether or not you find the puzzles challenging or easy breezy, if you’re just looking for a good time and a few good laughs, this game is great.

Hollywood Hijinx is long and complex, more so than Zork. You play the nephew of a famous movie producing couple who have died and left you their fortune, on the condition that you are smart enough to find all ten of their movie treasures.

The premise didn't really excite me, but as I read the feelies, I began to be more interested. Also, I had heard many people mention this as a favorite Infocom game. Later, during the game, I began to really get into it, especially with the (Spoiler - click to show)remote controlled model of the Atomic Chihuahua set in Tokyo.

The game is hard. I literally couldn't solve the first problem: getting into the house. I had to look up the invisiclues. The game in general was complex, and I honestly just explored the house once, then relied on the walkthrough to see the rest of the game.

Only a few puzzles seemed really unfair, especially the 'last' big puzzle. But the creativity of this game is outstanding. If I had been looking for a long game to play over a month, this would have been it.