~3 minute readCritically Speaking...Multi-Systems
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
LEATHER GODDESSES OF PHOBOS (NA / ⭐⭐⭐⭐) may be Infocom's most outrageous piece of interactive fiction yet. The text game at standard level is described as a comedy take-off on science fiction pulp of the 1930's with a generous sprinkling of sex, but somehow everything but the word "sex" has been ignored by those waiting for the game's release. Author Steve Meretzky ("A Mind Forever Voyaging," co-author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") has finally brough a four-year-old Infocom inside joke to life, and he should be very happy with the results, even if the program isn't banned from Seven-Elevent Stores.
Three Naughtiness Levels
There are three "naughtiness" levels of play: merely suggestive, downright lewd, or safely tame. These levels are similar to movie ratings of PG, R, and G, respectively, and of course every player will go straight to "lewd" mode. (The program will ask for age verification, and the under-18 players can get around this little problem by lying.) We bypassed "tame" altogether and tried the game out in both suggestive and lewd modes, both of which contain quite a lot of clever humorous sexual innuendo and double-entendres, but nothing that's likely to offend. (After all, anyone who is ultra-sensitive to sexual content isn't likely to purchase the game in the first place.)
Abduction to Phobos
The story begins in Joe's Bar in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Shortly after you've established the gender of your character in the story, you're rudely abducted by the Leather Goddesses, who toss you into a cell on Phobos, a tiny moon of Mars. Escaping from your cell, you embark on a crazy tour of the Solar System, accompanied by your friend Tiffany of Trent (depending on whether you play the game as a female or male). Before leaving the jail area, though, you'll probably observe the unspeakable experiments being carried out by the Leather Goddesses in preparation for their planned invasion of Earth. (They intend to turn Earth into their private pleasure playground.) Your new friend has a plan to build a "Super-Duper Anti-Leather Goddesses of Phobos Attack Machine" and only the two of you can gather up the necessary parts. Six feet of rubber hose? A copy of the Cleveland phone book? A white mouse? This is going to be one weird machine!
Interplanetary Romp
You and your friend are off on an interplanetary romp -- a trip of a lifetime. Visit the steaming jungles of Venus, where the Venus flytraps consume people. (It's an experience you won't forget!) Wander the red Martian desert, known as the "Ruined Castle Capital of the Solar System," and try to find the harem. Meet a king, gather strange objects, avoid danger, sniff pungent aromas (matched with a scratch'n'sniff card in the game package), solve puzzles, and enjoy erotic encounters. At times you may have so much fun exploring that you forget about the machine you're trying to build. Remember that sometimes you must forgo your own pleasure in order to save the Earth from the degenerate plot of the Leather Goddesses!
Highly Entertaining
This is prime Infocom interactive fiction -- highly entertaining, humorous, well written, and full of puzzles that are challenging without being too frustrating. The addition of a little sex to spice up the story will certainly get gamers' attention and it adds a delightful new dimension to interactive fiction. (Solo play; keyboard.) Available for Amiga, Apple II, Atari XL/XE & ST, Commodore 64/128, IBM PC/PCjr, Macintosh.
Recommended. (MSR $34.95 Atari XL/XE & C64 $44.95 others)
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