The Prisoner (1980)

Look: 7/10 Despite how rudimentary it is, it does certainly take full advantage of this. I mean, you are literally just a # symbol, but they do so much with the limited capabilities.

Sound: 7/10 At first I remarked, "Annoying music." But actually it got more interesting as the game went on with the false glitches and whatnot. Just like with the limited graphics, they took full advantage and used their wit to make the Sound work with the game concept.

Play: 8/10 Even though it didn't quite drive me to finish 100% of all optional quests etc, I love the concept and I had fun reading about it (and somewhat fun playing it). Definitely more of a concept-than-product type game, still impressive tho. What a concept, what an execution, what a.. trip. I am surprised how underknown this game is nowadays. It's like the matrix meets… well, it’s just super unique. If not play it, at least read up about it! Great comments on society and technology, great fun with the false errors and 4th wall breaking. The controls all function very well for a microcomputer game of its time

Feel: 9/10 Again, even tho I didnt have the motivation to do EVERYTHING in the game, I did completely beat the main story, did most the Brotherhood missions, got a loan from the bank, attempted the Wild route, etc. And anyway, that's all the more reason to replay in the future! The concept is just too brilliant and fun to not explore it a bit more. It's basically “open world” in the sense that you could do all those optional quests and explore everything the game has to offer, or just focus on the goal (which itself isn't that linear either). So much replayability with that. Lol love how it tries to trick you in The School room. And the possibilities in the bar are epic. Problem is, as I played more and more, the initial excitement of the concept started to wear off. And truth be told, i doubt i would really enjoy solving all this if not for a guide, too much thinking ha All very meta, metaphorical, philosophical, over-the-top. we are playing a videogame, you are a prisoner in society, etc. foucault kept coming to mind ha Oh, and the theatre is brilliant experimental video art imo ha.

A great quote from the game, when joining the Brotherhood:

Good. Are you willing to give your life, commit murder, commit acts of sabotage which might cause the deaths of innocent people, cheat, forge, blackmail, distribute habit forming drugs, for the cause of freedom?

Some alleged context:

Edu-Ware's founders, Sherwin Steffin and Steve Pederson, playtested The Prisoner. While they realized that it was a groundbreaking game, there were concerned that I had designed it so that you could win the game from the beginning if you knew what to do: visit the Caretaker and tell him "The Island is just a computer game." I argued that it was thematically imperative that you could win the game from the beginning, since your "imprisonment" was entirely due to the fact that you were freely choosing to spend your time playing this computer game. Source: http://tleaves.com/weblog/archives/000431.html

Attachment: 8/10 Even tho I know I will be showing this game to a lot of people, and explaining it and reading about it time to time, how often I will actually play it is up for debate. As impressive as it was, and ostensibly fun and witty, it was just too taxing and micrcomputer-ish (while I've been getting more so into arcade games lately). Great game, always worth a try and an exposure, but can't claim it's an easy hop-on-and-play-one-day game.