The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"Mostly Harmless"

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is the first book in the inappropriately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy (there's give books). The book enjoys a rather large cult following, and it propelled its author, Douglas Adams, into fame. It became so popular that a movie deal was even in the works.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy on the personal computer is a text adventure made by Infocom. Infocom is generally considered the elite in text adventure games, producing ninety percent of the available text adventure games for the early personal computer. We're talking ancient times here, back when Windows was a pipe dream.

In case you're not familiar with the text adventure genre, let me explain. There are no graphics, excluding the text on the screen. Everything is driven by words and actions. The strength of a text adventure lies in its story, as it has to be either really interesting or really funny to carry the ''reader's'' attention.

In The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy's case, the humour carries the game. If you've read the book, you'll know the plot loosely, as it does follow it for a time. However, the plot does diverge from the book, so you can enjoy the game even if you have read the book.

The story centers around two hitchhikers, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. Minutes before Earth is about to be blown up by aliens, Ford Prefect manages to hitchhike with Arthur on to another alien ship. The game chronicles the unimportant, stupid, and silly journey that they take.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is an entertaining text adventure. Very well written, with lots of funny jokes, and references to the book. However, this is not a game for newcomers to the genre. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is considered one of the toughest Infocom games to beat. It changes around several of the classic Infocom terms, and asks for some pretty loony answers to questions. If you can beat the game without consulting any sort of documentation, consider yourself a gaming god.

If you can't listen to a radio, or read a book, then this game isn't really for you. There are absolutely NO graphics, and there are NO sounds or sound effects. Stick to more traditional game genres.

However, if you think you're up to playing some text adventures, then you might want to give The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy a good once over. Chances are you'll find some very humorous aspects in it, and you won't be sorry. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy can be played online for free; if you do a web search on any major search engine you should come up with the web site.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/01, Updated 08/08/01