Icebreaker: The Text Adventure

Rating this game as interactive fiction is a bit unfair considering its nature. It actually does a pretty good job being a text parser adaption of Icebreaker. Arcade games are however not an interest of mine, and they do not work very well in text format.

With the isometric projection of the original game, the player can quickly get an overview of what is going on. In the text version, the claustrophobic sensation of only knowing what is adjacent to you is somewhat exciting at first. Interpreting all those descriptions of what kind of area is in what direction soon gets tiresome though. There is fortunately only an easily mapped grid of 6 x 6 squares to explore, surrounded by a seemingly endless desert wasteland.

There are only 14 points to score, but winning the game took me longer than necessary since I was unfamiliar with the general mechanics of Icebreaker. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the Wikipedia page before starting. Anyway, I usually play interactive fiction for immersive stories and occasional puzzles. This game has none of those.