Re: Infocom and the Test of Time

[Emerick Rogul <emerick@csa.bu.edu>]

Second April writes:

: A lot of the humor in Nord & Bert turns on cliches or idioms that you
: might not have recognized, particularly in the "Buy the Farm" and "Eat
: Your Words" sections; I found those parts pretty funny, though others were
: less inspired ("Act the Part," I always thought, was particularly weak).
: It's an uneven effort, but the high points are quite good if you're
: familiar with the wordplay.

The problem with "Nord and Bert" is that it's a one-trick pony, and if
you don't enjoy the trick, it doesn't have much else to offer.  I
usually enjoy wordplay, but I just found this game to be tedious in
the extreme.

: Interesting, since Cutthroats (sorry, Mike, but it's true) and Hollywood
: Hijinx are often considered substandard by Infocom fans. (I've played 
: them and I have to agree.)

Hmm.  Really?  I wouldn't say "Hollywood Hijinx" is a "classic" but it
was one of my favorite games.  Extremely easy, sure, but very funny
and fun to play.  Also, this was "Hollywood" Dave Anderson's first
game, so I think it showed a lot of potential given that.

"Cutthroats" I never got into in a big way, but I think it had some
interesting ideas and it was certainly a very atmospheric story.  I
especially liked the handling of the NPCs and being able to choose an
adventure to complete within the context of the game.

: (And I played Starcross, Suspended, and Deadline for the first time
: in the last year or so and was favorably impressed.)

Yup, three of the best games ever, IMO.

-Emerick
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emerick Rogul        /\/  "i wouldn't want to live in a world that had
emerick@cs.bu.edu    /\/   seen my genitalia. you've got no trump card."
-------------------------------------------------------- janeane garofalo