YOU COULD BE NEXT . .
A Review of The Mystery Collection
by Kathleen Keating
There are dead bodies scattered everywhere and the murderers are on the loose. Will you be the next to succumb to the evil and treachery lurking around every corner? Find out. Pop The Mystery Collection into your CD-ROM drive, then load it onto your hard drive in a flash and you're ready for hours of role-playing fun, as you put your virtual life on the line trying to unravel tightly written mysteries with surprises and plot twists that will send even the most seasoned sleuth searching madly for more clues. It's been a long time since I've gotten really involved with interactive fiction games. Perhaps I felt that I had advanced to a new plateau of game playing, preferring to play the true-to-life action packed games with gorgeous graphics and sounds realistic enough to send my neighbors diving under their couch, fearing they were going to be victims of an F-18 air strike. Okay. I have the sound turned waaaaay up! I admit it.
So, when I opened The Mystery Collection and read through the handbook detailing the games, I thought to myself that this review would be tedious. Even my family's excitement dwindled when they discovered, to their dismay, that the games contained only text. Upon closer scrutiny, I read that some of the games were written by those geniuses of Zork fame. You know, the guys from M.I.T.
Suddenly, I remembered the fun I had and of course, the delightful torture I endured playing those first interactive games. Before I knew it, I loaded the games onto my trusty hard drive, in an extremely easy installation, which an eight year old child could manage thanks to the Windows friendly features and I was off, embarked on a six hour journey that seemed only minutes long. In one game, Sherlock, I was trying to help Holmes with an unusual and most enjoyable case. Next, I was suspected in a murder, not necessarily a bad position in which to find yourself in the world of interactive fiction and this title, Suspect made it quite an interesting challenge, especially with the real murderer around you all the time. Whew. For a change of pace, I went back in time to 1938 in the game, Witness, where I had twelve hours to solve a murder and nail a killer. No easy feat!
Feeling I deserved a promotion because of my sharpened skills, I tried out the game Deadline. This time I was the Chief of Detectives. I won't give this one away, but I will say there are many possible endings to this case and only one is correct. I found that out the hard way.
When I didn't appear at the dinner table, my family came looking for me and was surprised to see me so involved with the games. Reminded my food was getting cold, I agreed to eat. Sleuthing made me really hungry. Returning to find a killer, I found my husband instead, hunched over the computer, totally enthralled with Moonmist, where he played the part of the great American detective. He was so caught up in it, he answered me in short mumblings, rarely looking up from a map containing crucial clues. Fortunately, for him (and me) the handbook lists several helpful hints for all the games, each has it's own map so you can keep from getting lost.
We fought over computer time for several days, which is a rarity in my husband's case. As a former private investigator, he relished at putting his detective skills on the line, figuring the games were no match for his sophisticated sleuthing abilities. Wrong. It's not that these games are difficult, rather the variations and surprises fool and certainly entertain even a pro like him, but are easy enough to be enjoyed by our daughter. Anyway, my husband challenged me to see which one of us could uncover the real criminal first. Naturally, I hid the card containing the phone number for HINTS, but I put it in a handy place, just in case he got closer to the solution than I did. One night, we both hurried to the computer to see who would win this battle of the egos and found our daughter engulfed with Lurking Horror. Sounds like something that lives in my refrigerator! Actually, there is something living underneath the campus grounds at G.U.E. Tech. What that really is, I have yet to find out because my daughter refuses to talk, promising me that it would be a thriller trying to find out.
For the most part, I think this collection of interactive fiction from Infocom and Activision is worthwhile . Although the suggested retail price was not known at press time, I think it will be worth the money. The quality of entertainment is excellent and it isn't something you will grow tired of or bored with very soon. It is easy to play for people ages 8- ? and certainly develops the players imagination and creative thinking abilities.
As far as graphics and sound? They're the best because they originate in your mind. The Mystery Collection is a winner. The only thing Activision needs to improve upon is the delay on their customer service phone lines.
Want more? Activision has also included two other bonus titles, Zork Zero and Planetfall to round out this CD collection. I'll let you discover them for yourself.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
The Mystery Collection |
| Company: |
Activision
|
| Cost: |
$14.95 |
System Requirements:
CD-ROM, WIN 3.1, Hard Drive
and at least 3 Megabytes of RAM
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 5
Graphics 4
Sound 3
Interface 4
Replayability 4
Overall Score:
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