Game Wars! Text Adventure Battle 1: Zork vs. Hitchhiker's Guide

[pixelmischief]

Greetings fellow Atari-lovers! Welcome to the inaugural match, so to speak, of "Game Wars!" In this series, I will pit game against game, "brother against brother", "mano y mano", for the invaluable prize of your favor.

Combatants will be selected based on genre, only. Requests are welcome. The first four (4) contests in each genre will seed an on-going ranking that will be posted with each new contest in that genre. After that, new entrants will start at the bottom of the genre and have the opportunity to fight their way to the top.

Contests will be decided by poll. The poll will run for one (1) week. During that time, additional participation via discussion is strenuously encouraged. Feature-by-feature comparisons of the combatants, in support of one's own vote, can make for excellent exchange. Well-informed opinion on matters like technical achievement, historical importance, and notable innovation are especially welcome. Also, anecdotes of personal experience around the procurement and play of the contestants will be deeply appreciated.

As always, please be respectful of your fellow Atari fans. Remember, this is for fun. Also, stay on topic. One of the key motivators for this is the frequency of requests seen here for information on which games are the "best". Hopefully, these "contests of opinion" will provide highly focused, in-depth, passionate and inspiring reviews of the games and a ranking system to help guide new audience toward the community's favorites. Finally, be responsible with spoilers, providing ample warning if offered information might ruin the experience for someone who has not yet played the game.

Now, without further ado, enter the arena! It's Infocom heavy-weights, Zork vs. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

Edited November 21, 2014 by pixelmischief

[+MrFish]

I'm assuming the competition is against "Zork I", as opposed to the whole series?

[pixelmischief]

I'm assuming the competition is against "Zork I", as opposed to the whole series?

 

Yes, absolutely.

[pixelmischief]

Getting lots of votes, which is good! Not getting any posts, which is bad =(. So let me offer a bit.

 

My love affair with Atari Computers began when I was in Junior High School. Among other things, this meant I had no money of my own. Combined with the fact that my parents were somewhat strained financially, the resultant state was that opportunities to buy software were nil. This sets the stage for my first experiences with both Zork and Hitchhiker's to have been via copied disks. The problem was that, unlike a platformer or a space shooter, it was very difficult to even know where to begin without the manual. Likewise, the imagination was not nearly as stimulated without the cool box art and additional assets, like the ever-loved "Ecyclopedia Frobozzica". So, at that time, both adventures were only toyed with occasionally and without much commitment.

 

But I knew there was something great lurking in both of those games. And when I got to an age when I had my own resources, I was able to procure and play both. Now, wholly inspired, completely informed, and totally committed, I embarked on both adventures.

 

Zork, once you know the goal of the game, is an incredible joy to play. It's challenging and suspenseful and beautifully written. Combined with the imagination that the pack-in material stimulates, the game truly takes the player to another world. The puzzles were difficult, but not impossible. The dangers, real, but not insurmountable. The journey, long, but not exhausting. The sense of accomplishment was true, even if understated in terms of its climax.

 

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, on the other hand, did not reveal itself so easily. Even as an adult, I needed *help* getting past key points in the game. The game was as beautifully written as Zork, no doubt, but the world didn't hang together quite as well. I wasn't nearly as immersed in the adventure. Still, there are several laugh-out-loud moments in HHGG and playing through it is more than worth the liabilities.

 

Needless to say, Zork, FTW.

[Dragon375]

I was in the Army back in '82 when I first got exposed to A8 and both of these text adventures. To me, it seemed that HHTTG was linear and predictable, but Zork almost demanded "thinking out of the box". I agree that HHTTG had some great moments, but if you had read the book, it was totally predictable. In Zork it was almost totally unpredictable what would be around the next corner. It's my belief that if you are going to invest days and maybe even weeks toward solving a computer game, there should be very small amounts of "trying things at random" just to get past a puzzle to proceed in the game. So that brings Zork forward as the most enjoyable playing experience. In fact, this post has me digging out my disks, shaking off the dust and trying to make it through them again.

[pixelmischief]

In fact, this post has me digging out my disks, shaking off the dust and trying to make it through them again.

 

I am honored to know that this little experiment has had precisely the effect I hoped it would. Enjoy the games! Please, report back!

[Wrathchild]

HHGG for me as it was the title I chose (way back in 2003!) to use for disassembling the interpreter to relocate the code and run games from Cartridge and, more recently, the large disk versions

[Tempest]

The problem with HHGTTG is that it's based on a book so you have to do a lot of things that only make sense if you've read the book (at least in the beginning). There's no way anyone would guess that they have to

'Lay Down In Front of Bulldozer' or 'Enjoy Poetry'

unless they were intimately acquainted with the book. If you can't solve a game without first reading the book it's based off of, then it's not a good game (at least to me). Most book to text adventure games suffer from this to varying degrees, but it's really noticeable in HHGTTG since the book was somewhat nonsensical to begin with. The game gets a little better once you're on the Heart of Gold and it diverges from the plot of the book, but it still has periodic 'insane solution' problems. Zork on the other hand, is more than fair with its clues and puzzles with only a few exceptions (The Zork III end game comes to mind).

 

Another thing that always bothered me about HHGTTG is that it felt claustrophobic. There are only a very limited number of places you can explore and with the exception of the HoG hub area you're restricted in access to them. Zork has a huge open area (above and below ground) that you can pretty much explore at any time. If you're stuck in one area you can move onto another without much trouble.

[pixelmischief]

There's no way anyone would guess that they have to '***************' or '**********' unless they were intimately acquainted with the book.

 

Hide your spoilers, Tempest!!

[Tempest]

 

Hide your spoilers, Tempest!!

You've had 30 years to play this game, the time for hiding spoilers has passed.

 

Oh and Darth Vader is Luke's father, it was his sled, and she's a dude. That should cover everything.

[pixelmischief]

You've had 30 years to play this game, the time for hiding spoilers has passed.

 

Oh and Darth Vader is Luke's father, it was his sled, and she's a dude. That should cover everything.

 

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[+Stephen]

You've had 30 years to play this game, the time for hiding spoilers has passed.

 

Oh and Darth Vader is Luke's father, it was his sled, and she's a dude. That should cover everything.

So that last one - is it still ghey if you didn't know?

[evilmoo]

Related: http://thcnet.net/zork/

[Wrathchild]

Just discovered that the BBC produced an online version of HHGTTG