| The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (computer Game) |
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''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is an Interactive Fiction Computer Game based on the seminal comic Science Fiction series Of The Same Name . It was designed by series creator Douglas Adams and Infocom 's Steve Meretzky , and was first released in 1984 for the Apple II , Commodore 64 , Atari , and the IBM PC . PLOT The game loosely mirrors a portion of the series' plot, beginning with the impending destruction of Arthur Dent 's house and subsequent demolition of the Earth by Vogons . After being rescued from open space by the '' Heart Of Gold '' and figuring out how to activate the Infinite Improbability Drive , the player is hurled through space and time, assuming the roles of Ford Prefect , Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian at various intervals. (The question of the player character's identity at any time can be answered by the innovative WHO AM I? command.) For the majority of the game, Arthur Dent is the main player character. An in-game virtual edition of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' provides a plethora of major and Minor Characters , Locations , and Miscellanea from the series that can be referenced, if not directly encountered. Topics ranging from Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster s to Galaxia Woonbeam can be looked up with the command CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT The ultimate goal of the game is casually mentioned by Zaphod in an offhanded manner: finding the legendary lost planet of for holding other objects, and a penchant for showing up in the player's inventory after seemingly being lost. When the characters finally set foot on Magrathea, the game ends with the never-fulfilled promise of a thrilling sequel. FEELIES Most Infocom games contained " Feelies ", bonus novelty items included to enhance the immersiveness of the game. The feelies provided with this game included:
NOTES ''HHGTTG'' is generally considered to be the first interactive fiction game to intentionally cheat players. Adding to its reputation for deviousness was "The Babel Fish Dispenser", a wickedly complicated puzzle appearing very early in the game. Failure to "solve" the Babel fish puzzle did not kill the player, but rendered the remainder of the game Unwinnable . Another fiendish puzzle involved the ten tools scattered throughout the game's locations. One of the final puzzles involved Marvin asking for a particular tool to use in unjamming the ship's hatch. If the player had failed to collect ten, Marvin would invariably ask for one of the missing ones. Likewise, while the opening section of the game closely resembles the opening scenes of the original radio play and book, there are several actions that the player must perform in order to make the game winnable. In spite of all of this, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' was rated as "Standard" difficulty. Curiously, the player is seldom given an actual purpose, apart from the implicit goal stated by the inventory item of "no tea". Much of the game is spent simply reacting to situations, such as the impending deaths variously threatened by Bulldozer s, matter-transference Hangover s, the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast Of Traal , or Nuclear Missile s. This lack of direction had little effect in deterring fans of Adams' work. The Infocom version of ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' quickly became a fan classic; it was one of five top-selling Infocom games to be produced in Solid Gold versions, with a built-in hint system not included in the originals. The game was rereleased by Activision in several collection packages before rights reverted to Adams. It was later rereleased online as a Java Applet on Douglas Adams' website, and was then again as a Flash version on September 21 2004 , coinciding with the initial radio broadcast of the Tertiary Phase . The Flash version of the game is illustrated by Rod Lord , who also produced the animations for the popular TV series. On March 2 , 2005 , this version won the Interactive BAFTA Award for Best Online Entertainment {Link without Title} . The game appeared in an exhibition called "Game On", which has toured Museum s worldwide since 2002 , representing the text-based genre of computer games. EXTERNAL LINKS
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