~2 minute readCRITICALLY SPEAKING..MULTI
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (NA / ⭐⭐⭐⭐)
may be the funniest game yet from a company that's
known for its sense of humor. The game is the result of a collaboration between Douglas Adams,
author of the best-selling book on which the game is based, and
Steve Meretzky, author of two previous Infocom games, Planetfall
and Sorceror. HITCHHIKER is an inspired piece of madness that
has the player become Arthur Dent, the hapless human who
awakens to find that his house is about to be bulldozed and the
planet about to be destroyed. The first problem of the game is to
avoid being conked by a loose brick unlodged by the great yellow
bulldozer outside Dent's house. Once the bulldozer has been
stopped in its tracks, Dent meets up with his old friend, Ford Prefect,
who turns out to be a hitchhiker from Betelgeuse. With the
aid of an Electronic Sub-Etha Hitching Thumb, their only hope
is to escape the planet and stow away on a Vogon Constructor
ship. The Vogon ship is not such a nice place to be. The hold is
described as "a squalid room filled with grubby mattresses,
unwashed cups, and unidentifiable bits of smelly alien underwear."
At least it's a better fate than being blown up with the planet Earth!
Don't Forget Your Towel!
The adventure continues aboard another ship, the Heart of Gold, with lots of puzzles and snide remarks, as Dent and Prefect run into Zaphod Beeblebrox, President of the Imperial Galactic Government, his girlfriend Trillian, and Marvin, the paranoid android. The game is loaded with improbable creatures and impossible events -- and lots of laughs. Even when you're most frustrated by your inability to solve a puzzle for the moment, the game keeps tickling your sense of humor with totally outrageous situations. As it says on the button that comes with the game, DON'T PANIC! Just have a ball with this zany game . . . and don't forget your towel! (Solo play; Keyboard; Disk; Formatted blank required for game-saving.) Available for Apple II/II+/IIe/IIc, Atari, C-64, IBM PC/PCjr.)
Recommended. (MSR $49.95 Apple or IBM; $34.95 Atari or C-64)
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