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About the Story Don't Panic! Relax, because everything you need to know about playing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is contained in the pages of this manual. In this story, you will be Arthur Dent, a rather ordinary earth creature who gets swept up in a whirlwind of interstellar adventures almost beyond comprehension. Game Details
Language: English (en)
Current Version: 59 License: Commercial (Out of Print) Development System: ZIL Forgiveness Rating: Cruel
Spoofed by Coke Is It!, by Lucian P. Smith, Adam Thornton, J. Robinson Wheeler, Michael Fessler, Dan Shiovitz, David Dyte Followed by sequel Not Found, by Unknown |
Awards
32nd Place - Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time (2015 edition)
46th Place - Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time (2019 edition)
Editorial Reviews
Adventure Classic Gaming
The game is richly described, backed by an excellent forgiving parser, and more fun to play than you can shake a stick at. The only dark spot in an otherwise sterling effort is Adams' convoluted sense of logic, compounded by an unsatisfying ending. Other frustrations of the game owe more to the paradigm of game design from the early era of interactive fiction than anything Adams has done himself.
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Gaming Enthusiast
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is notorious though for its difficulty level and generally being “mean” to the player.
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SPAG
The writing is some of Infocom's very best, which is fortunate because the game itself is a little too short (only The Witness and Seastalker have fewer locations). The atmosphere produced is almost exactly like that of the book, even if specific details of the plot are often changed. The puzzles (including the legendary Babel Fish puzzle) are based on a brand of "consistent illogic" that is rather reminiscent of Lewis Carroll, and make the game one of those few that many will some day play again even after having solved it once. Hitchhiker's is one of the more literate text games on the market, as you will often have to pay more attention to how things are worded than you might in other games.
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SynTax
[...] the game follows the book pretty closely in parts but, naturally, can't go into the same detail. It is worth reading the book as it will help with some parts of the adventure - of course, it's well worth reading the book anyway as it is so terrifically funny. But I think that even though the game is standard level, certain bits would be quite tricky to solve without the benefit of reading the book first.
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SynTax
This game was my introduction to Infocom adventures, and what an introduction. It took me two weeks to get past that bulldozer [...] (Kedenan)
I was a bit disappointed by the ending of HHGTTG which was rather abrupt and suddenly bumped your score up when you'd thought you still had a fair way to go. What was more of a shame was the lack of the promised follow-up. A good game, though, and certainly a 'must' for any fans of Douglas Adams. (Sue)
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 7 Write a review |
Most Helpful Member Reviews
Frankly, I just used a walkthrough and enjoyed the show, February 3, 2016Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy is co-written by Douglas Adams, and the strong prose shows this. The game is very imaginative and vibrant.
On the other hand, the puzzles are (I assume) by Steve Meretzky, who is one of my least favorite puzzle writers from Infocom. Sorcerer, though great, was my least favorite Enchanter game, and I get tired of Planetfall early on. So when I started this game, I was scared of any misstep sending me on a wild goose chase into an unsavable state.
So I just used a walkthrough and sailed through the game, enjoying the witty prose. I plan to go back and read more of the room descriptions and the actual guide. I often find that this approach works with very difficult or unfair games, because the second playthrough can be done without a walkthrough, allowing your memory to help you on some puzzles but still having fun with those you forgot.
The game has several puzzles that are frequently referenced in interactive fiction reviews and forums: the Babel-fish puzzle, and the tea. It may be worthwhile to play through with a walkthrough just to see these.
Note that Douglas Adams released this game for free when Activision went a long time without selling it. I don't know the current status of it, but he intended to freely distribute it at least once in the past. It is not available on Lost Treasures of Infocom for iPad, my usual go-to place for Infocom games.
Evil, But Enjoyable, July 8, 2008Hitchhikers is one of those games at times so dastardly, so unfair, so evil, that it shouldn't be enjoyable to play. But thanks to the wonderfully enjoyable writing of Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky, HHGTG is an enjoyable puzzle-fest.
Sure some of the puzzles take dieing and restarting to solve, others take immense amounts of obtuse logic to complete. Because of the difficulty, HHGTG is very fulfilling if you complete it. It's a must play for fans of a) Douglas Adams or b) Classic puzzle-laden Infocom IF.
As per the 20th Anniversary Edition, March 26, 2016Confession: I never played any of the original versions, instead coming on board with the BBC Radio 4 20th Anniversary Edition, which is in many ways kinder to the player; it came complete with the game itself, but also some simple but pleasing graphics, interesting game design notes, and all the Douglas Adams hints. That page is still here, although the game is currently hosted here. (Apparently this is the 30th Anniversary Edition, which is like the old one but with a shinier interface and, erm, the ability to tweet from in-game. Perhaps just as well, if the brush-up allows the game to be around for another ten years.)
Anyhow, it's gloriously implemented and perfectly atmospheric. Definitely worth a try if you're at all a fan of the radio series/books/movie/stageshow/whathaveyou.
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Recommended Lists
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy appears in the following Recommended Lists:Infocom Salvaged Adventures by Tristano
List of the Infocom adventures that were recovered from the salvaged Infocom hard drive, and their source code was published on GitHub in April 2019 by Jason Scott for educational purposes and in an attempt to preserve them from...
Highly Recommended by Wendymoon
I like great writing, interesting characters, a little mystery, romance and sci-fi.
Polls
The following polls include votes for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:First IF that you have ever played by BlitzWithGuns
What is the first IF that you have ever played? The game that made you love the concept of IF?
Comfort Food IF by Molly
Lately I've been chasing away the blues by playing through my IF backlog. This made me wonder, what IF do you play as a pick-me-up? Maybe it's something that calms and soothes you, maybe it's really funny, or maybe it just distracts you...
Games with unique hint systems by delano
I'm looking for games that offer hints in any way, except for printing them in sequence on the screen. For example: characters that offer hints; objects that, when examined or used in a certain way, suggest actions to the player; etc.
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