Moonbase Indigo

This short, very smooth little game by J. Robinson Wheeler is pretty well-developed for speed IF, and well worth the play time if you like irreverent takes on James Bond. It's not quite spoof, parody or satire, but it's definitely a comedy and a lot of fun.

I salute author J. Robinson Wheeler's ability to create such a fluid-feeling gameplay experience. Just about everything I tried was accepted and moved the action briskly along. The only place where I got stuck at all (for maybe a minute or two) was during a pseudo "boss battle" with the story's stylized femme fatale, who (fittingly) can't be handled like the string of mooks you have to wade through to reach that point.

Like all speed IF, this feels like it could have been more, but the work as it stands is complete and contains all of the essentials. Nothing is obviously missing that couldn't be considered to be filler, and leaving so much of what's non-essential to the player's imagination probably improves the subjective experience. I noted a couple of extremely minor bugs (Spoiler - click to show)(e.g. the chain securing the scientist you're out to save lingers in the room description even when dealt with), but these are excusable in a speed IF context.

If you're in an action-plus-comedy kind of mood, definitely consider firing this one up and giving it a spin. If you're not fully satisfied with the puzzleless format, then you might check out Centipede by the same author, which is similarly fluid and fast-paced but does have a puzzle to solve.