![]() It's as if they expected only die-hard fans of the book to even play the game.and then failed to give them a reason to want to.In the early summer of 1997, my wife and I went round for lunch to Douglas and Jane's in Islington, and within minutes of arriving Douglas said, "Quick, come upstairs! There's something I want to show you!" With all the infectious enthusiasm and fervour which everyone so loved in Douglas, he bounded up to a room at the top of the house, followed - somewhat less energetically - by me. I'm sure fans will be interested-especially since Douglas Adams co-wrote it and it does contain healthy doses of his humor-but it just isn't much fun as a game. I can't help but wonder if ANYBODY figured that out without referring to the hints. There is a point at the very beginning where you have to specifically type, "Ford, what about my home?" in order to advance. Secondly, some parts were insanely difficult. At least this time they got to read it on a computer screen, I guess. That sequence of events should sound strikingly familiar to anyone who has read the novel. Just like the book, you lie down in front of the bulldozer, join your friend Ford Prefect at the pub, catch a ride on a Vogon ship, grab a Babel fish, then hop on board the Heart of Gold. You play Arthur Dent, who wakes up to see a bulldozer outside his bedroom window. First, it followed too closely to the book, meaning that if you had read the book you weren't in for many surprises. Unfortunately "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was notable for entirely the wrong reasons. ![]() So here goes: The Zork games set the standard for text-based adventure games (I can't bring myself to call them "video" games), and there were plenty of other notable entries in the genre, such as "The Leather Goddesses of Phobos". H2G2 would be the perfect game.Ī twenty-year old computer game-what's the point of this review? Probably none, but with the new movie coming out, there's a chance some fans will be interested in tracking down a copy of this game. There could be a future for text adventures using a speak/reply device no keyboard, no screen. A fun way to treat text adventures today is to try using a speech recognition program such as Via Voice &c. It can also be downloaded and played using an emulator. The game is still available to play online. And the graphic adventure, 'Starship Titanic' is beautiful to look at and awful to play! H2G2 was written for many platforms. Sadly I never got on with the other Douglas Adams' adventure 'Bureaucracy'. ![]() With the help of friends, the game was completed after a few months. When I played the game in the late 80s, I didn't know where to get help with the puzzles. Douglas Adams has said that this was the version of H2G2 that turned out most closely as intended. The program is well written and allows much variation. Other reviewers claim that progress is only made when 'exact' phrases are used. There were some little problems: 'Lay down/Lie down' produced different results. Its understanding of language was the best I have encountered. Having played quite a few text adventures, H2G2 stood out as the most user friendly.
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