Category: Others

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Michael Roberts GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Michael Roberts Given that the author is none other than Michael J. Roberts, the creator of TADS interpreter for modern IF, I had very high expectations for the game. And my expectations are more than fulfilled: The Plant…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ian Finley GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Ian Finley All Alone is a great short work of interactive fiction from Ian Finley, author of Babel and Exhibition, two modern IF competition favorites. As for why All Alone is another must-play, I’ll let Duncan Stevens’ great…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Free Spirit GAME PUBLISHER:Free Spirit Copyright 1989, Free Spirit From C.E. Forman’s description of Free Spirit’s horrendous adult adventure games: “Free Spirit Software published a number of adult text adventure games for PC and possibly other platforms. All of their titles (with the exception…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Free Spirit GAME PUBLISHER:Free Spirit Copyright 1988, Free Spirit From C.E. Forman’s description of Free Spirit’s horrendous adult adventure games: “Free Spirit Software published a number of adult text adventure games for PC and possibly other platforms. All of their titles (with the exception…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roberta Williams GAME DEVELOPER:Sierra On-Line GAME PUBLISHER:Sierra On-Line Copyright 1992, Sierra On-Line This is the enhanced 1992 CD-ROM version of Sierra’s classic children’s game Mixed-Up Mother Goose. Read my review of the game for description of gameplay, for it remains the same in this version, except…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roberta Williams GAME DEVELOPER:Sierra On-Line GAME PUBLISHER:Sierra On-Line Copyright 1987, Sierra On-Line Mixed-Up Mother Goose is a great adventure game for toddlers that marks a departure for designer Roberta Williams, of Kings Quest fame. First released in 1987, the games strong premise, great gameplay, and charming…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Lawrence Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Lawrence Productions Copyright 1991, Lawrence Productions Katie’s Farm is the last title (except for a remake in 1994 called The New Katie’s Farm) in Lawrence Productions’ highly awarded McGee series of games for preschoolers. Like other McGee titles, Katie’s Farm is…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Tunnell GAME DEVELOPER:Jeff Tunnell Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Sierra On-Line Copyright 1992, Sierra On-Line One of the least known Sierra game ever, Mega Math is the last title in short-lived Turbo Learning series. This decent math game stars Quarky and Quaysoo, two spunky aliens from Jeff Tunnell’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Davies GAME DEVELOPER:Software Toolworks GAME PUBLISHER:Software Toolworks Copyright 1993, Software Toolworks The third and last title in Software Toolworks’ relatively unknown Mario Early Years! educational series, Preschool Fun is a fun game that teaches toddlers about basic concepts, such as numbers, colors, shapes, and sizes.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Davies GAME DEVELOPER:Software Toolworks GAME PUBLISHER:Software Toolworks Copyright 1993, Software Toolworks An edutainment title starring Nintendo’s best known game character and friends, Mario’s Time Machine features colorful graphics, fun historical factoids from the various eras, but is ultimately bogged down with frustrating action sequences that…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:MECC GAME PUBLISHER:MECC Copyright 1992, MECC The Amazon Trail is a fun game in MECC’s Trail series, of which The Oregon Trail is the best and most well-known game. MECC once again succeeds in combining education (in this case, facts about the Amazon rainforest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bob Bates GAME DEVELOPER:Legend Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, US Department of Justice Probably Bob Bates’ most obscure “game,” Quandaries is an excellent and unique edutainment titles designed to teach professional ethics to federal agents. Designed under contract for Ethics Office of the US Department of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leslie Grimm GAME DEVELOPER:Learning Company, The GAME PUBLISHER:Learning Company, The Copyright 1984, Learning Company, The One of the oldest releases by The Learning Company, Moptown Parade is a fun little edutainment game aimed at teaching basic pattern recognition and logic skills to kids aged 4-7. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:William Pryor & Donnel Cox GAME DEVELOPER:Pryority Software GAME PUBLISHER:Pryority Software Copyright 1983, Pryority Software One of the most innovative– and obscure– interactive titles ever made, Pryority Software’s Forbidden Quest is an ambitious sci-fi game that features many innovations, but falls a little flat from a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Todd Levi GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Todd Levi Transfer is a great sci-fi interactive fiction that placed a respectable 5th place in the 2000 Annual IF Competition. I personally like it less than previous year’s Babel by Ian Finley, but ther are enough challenging…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Moriarty GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1987, Infocom Arguably Infocom’s most unique interactive fiction (IF), Beyond Zork is a fun fantasy text adventure/RPG hybrid that attempts to do many things, and achieves most of them. Designed by Brian “Professor” Moriarty (who is more famous as…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bob Bates GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1988, Infocom Bob Bates’ first game for Infocom (before the much better Arthur and his more famous role as the founder and designer of Legend Entertainment) showcases his talent in writing and attention to detail, but sadly falls flat…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Hayden Software GAME PUBLISHER:Hayden Software Copyright 1985, Hayden Software Arguably the world’s first commercial text adventure authoring program for IBM PC, Hayden’s Computer Novel Construction Set is a surprisingly versatile program that lets non-programmers create stand-alone text adventures in the Infocom tradition, complete with…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dave Lebling GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1984, Infocom My third most favorite Infocom game (after Trinity and A Mind Forever Voyaging), The Lurking Horror is, without a doubt, one of the best horror computer games ever made. It is nothing short of extraordinary that a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stu Galley GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1984, Infocom One of Infocom’s best introductory-level text adventures, Seastalker is a fun undersea adventure that will delight fans of Wishbringer and anyone new to the interactive fiction genre. Matthew Murray’s brief review of the game highlights this underdog…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Amy Briggs GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1987, Infocom Plundered Hearts is one of the most underrated Infocom classics ever. Aside from the fact that it’s set in an unusual (and very intriguing) setting (17th century Caribbean seas), the game is most notable for being the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff O’Neill GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1985, Infocom One of Infocom’s most underrated releases, Ballyhoo is a fun, intermediate-level text adventure set in a premise not commonly found in IF games: a circus. I’ll let Joan Rouleau’s 1986 review in now-defunct Compute! magazine speak of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Carroll GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Jeff Carroll One of the best fanmade, and most obscure, AGI games ever made, URI Quest (short for University of Rhode Island Quest) is a fun game by Jeff Carroll that chronicles his life as an URI undergraduate.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeffrey Silverman GAME DEVELOPER:Tanager GAME PUBLISHER:Tanager Copyright 1992, Tanager One of the most obscure, underrated edutainment titles ever, Tanager’s C.Y.P.H.E.R. Operation Wildlife and Operation US Presidents are two wonderful games designed for kids aged 8 and up that teach a range of subjects in a unique…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeffrey Silverman GAME DEVELOPER:Tanager GAME PUBLISHER:Tanager Copyright 1991, Tanager One of the most obscure, underrated edutainment titles ever, Tanager’s C.Y.P.H.E.R. Operation Wildlife and Operation US Presidents are two wonderful games designed for kids aged 8 and up that teach a range of subjects in a unique…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Romero GAME DEVELOPER:SoftDisk Publishing GAME PUBLISHER:SoftDisk Publishing Copyright 1991, SoftDisk Publishing A fun little mix-and-match program for kids, Dino-Sorcerer is probably best remembered as one of the last games coded by John Romero before he left SoftDisk to form id Software with John and Adrian…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Al Lowe GAME DEVELOPER:Sierra On-Line GAME PUBLISHER:Disney Copyright 1984, Sierra On-Line Troll’s Tale is a charming, early kid’s game from Al Lowe, creator of Leisure Suit Larry series. The object is simple: collect treasures in a world populated by Trolls and other fantasy creatures. Similar to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Temple Software GAME PUBLISHER:Temple Software Copyright 1983, Temple Software Another lackluster text adventure from Temple Software, Granny’s Place, despite the innocuous name, is a *cough* adult game with an almost nonexistent plot, ridiculous puzzles, and more stereotypical comments and “cheap” jokes than you can…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jim Munroe GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Jim Munroe Punk Points is one of my favorite games of the 2000 IF Competition, although it’s certainly not a crowd pleaser like Kaged that will rack up the votes. The plot is straightforward: it’s your first day…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Robb Sherwin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Robb Sherwin A Crimson Spring, Robb Sherwin’s entry in the 2000 IF Competition is, by far, my pick for #1 underdog of that competition. It’s not a writing masterpice that Kaged is; it’s got no clever puzzle that…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ian Finley GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Ian Finley Kaged is a stylish, superbly written game of alternate history that is a worthy winner of the 2000 Interactive Fiction Competition. After impressing the judges with science fiction thriller Babel, Ian Finley returns with an excellent…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jon Ingold GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Jon Ingold An instant classic, My Angel is a love story that is well told and beautifully described. I’d like to quote Craxton’s review of the game in full here, because she gives the game a long, comprehensive…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Nick Montfort GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Nick Montfort One of the cleverest IF you’ll ever play, Nick Montfort’s Ad Verbum is a masterpice of wordplay puzzles that has more puns than you can shake a stick at. The game’s puzzles are so clever, so…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stephen Bond GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Stephen Bond A brilliant, well-written IF that should be considered “interactive novel” more than a “game,” due to a total lack of puzzles. Not that this should bother anyone– Rameses is undoubtedly the best game about teenage angst…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andrew Plotkin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Andrew Plotkin One of the most unique “interactive fiction” titles you’ll ever play, Andrew “Zarf” Plotkin’s Lists and Lists is a great example of what modern text adventure interpreters can do. Instead of coding another IF masterpiece that…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dan Shiovitz GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Dan Shiovitz One of the most unique pieces of IF ever written, Dan “Inky” Shiovitz’ Bad Machine is one of those games that are almost impossible to describe. Think Infocom’s classic A Mind Forever Voyaging and Suspended played…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andrew Plotkin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1995, Andrew Plotkin A well-deserved winner of the first IF Competition, Inform devision, in 1995. A Change in The Weather is a clever, very atmospheric game that begins with a deceptively simple premise: You get stuck out in the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andrew Plotkin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Andrew Plotkin Another seminal work by Andrew “Zarf” Plotkin, one of the modern-day interactive fiction masters. Hunter, in Darkness is similar to his earlier entry to the IF Competition, A Change in The Weather, in that it takes…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Emily Short GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Emily Short Runner-up in the 2000 Interactive Fiction Competition, and deservedly so. Emily Short’s Metamorphoses is a wonderfully written, beautifully programmed piece of IF that is equally strong in both the puzzle and writing departments– a rare quality.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andrew Plotkin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, Andrew Plotkin One of the most original IF (and, for that matter, any game genre) you’ll ever come across, The Space Under The Window is a masterpiece of storytelling that must be played to be believed. Robb Sherwin’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Coktel Vision GAME PUBLISHER:Coktel Vision Copyright 1992, Coktel Vision A fun collection of activities for toddlers (0-4 years. Old), Coktel’s A.J.’s World of Discovery marks the debut of A.J., a lovable alien who foreshadows Adi, a more famous character in Coktel’s line of edutainment…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Steve DeFrisco GAME DEVELOPER:Bantam Imagic GAME PUBLISHER:Firebird Copyright 1985, Bantam Imagic A unique and vastly unknown interactive fiction game based on underrated Damiano fantasy novels R.A. MacAvoy. Curiously enough, the European publisher Firebird didn’t mention developer’s name Bantam Imagic anywhere on the European release box. Despite…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leslie Grimm GAME DEVELOPER:Brderbund GAME PUBLISHER:Brderbund Copyright 1991, Leslie Grimm One of the best edutainment titles ever made for pre-shoolers (aged 5-8), The Treehouse was designed to prepare First and Second graders to develop a positive experience toward learning, as well as impart knowledge on basic…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stuart Smith GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1987, Stuart Smith As its name implies, Adventure Construction Set is a program that allows you to create your own “adventure.” The result is really an RPG, due to heavy emphasis on monsters and statistics. As a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Moriarty GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1987, Infocom Wishbringer is probably the most underrated game to have sprung from the fertile imagination Brian “Professor” Moriarty, of Loom fame. In contrast with Moriarty’s earlier philosophical classic Trinity, Wishbringer is a whimsical, light-hearted fantasy game designed with…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Moriarty GAME DEVELOPER:Infocom GAME PUBLISHER:Infocom Copyright 1986, Infocom My second most favorite Infocom game (after Steve Meretzsky’s A Mind Forever Voyaging) and undoubtedly one of the best games ever made in any genre, Trinity is a forgotten classic that combines astute literary metaphors, excellent prose,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:ITDA GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1989, ITDA Not exactly a game, but a nice little tool to create animated cartoons. There aren’t that many options to play around with, but still enough to create some cool cartoon sequences. Since everything is fairly easy, this…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mark Paquette GAME DEVELOPER:Manley Associates GAME PUBLISHER:MECC Copyright 1993, MECC One of the most original “business” games ever made, DinoPark Tycoon is a great concoction of education and strategy. Fans of Jurassic Park take note, here is the game you’ve been waiting for 🙂 Construct and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mark Paquette GAME DEVELOPER:MECC GAME PUBLISHER:MECC Copyright 1988, MECC In the designer’s own words about this popular children’s title: “You, as the energetic green Muncher, run around a grid eating prime numbers while being chased by wicked and hungry Troggles who eat you if they catch…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mark Paquette GAME DEVELOPER:MECC GAME PUBLISHER:MECC Copyright 1993, MECC One of the quirkiest edutainment titles ever made, The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary is a fun educational adventure game for kids ages 8 and up. The plot is a wacky combination of science and superstition: while…