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| Average Rating: based on 4 ratings Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 2 |
You are a paddle. You can move up and down to block the ball.
Making interactive fiction of Pong is a wacky idea that Granade manages to transform into a weird experience, thanks to a writing that is reminiscent, in ways, of the language in For a Change, only more convoluted and presented as a kind of inner monologue of the paddle’s. Some feat, really, since (though there are appropriate responses to other standard commands) the paddle can (did I mention that?) do nothing but move up and down. The novelty of the writing is, however, gone some while before either you or the opponent Non-Player Paddle scores a fifteenth time and the game is at last over.
To anyone who never played or even watched a match of Pong, this game must be terribly confusing; and I suppose it would be quite the worst introduction to interactive fiction that could well be imagined.
This game is fairly tedious, but it's well done, and has some great writing. It paints you as the pong paddle, but with a very unusual view on the world itself. It also has some nice text styling.
But getting even 2 points takes just forever. I can't imagine playing to 15 points.
A textual adaptation of the videogame, with amusingly stilted descriptions, like "Accursed opponent blocks ball from fated date with gap." There are lots of alternate descriptions, and their enthusiasm is infectious, but the gameplay is so tedious that you're still unlikely to finish a game. Includes Ben Parrish's 1994 "Pong FAQ".
-- Carl Muckenhoupt