Review scoopings 5/5 · Aug 18, 2023
Another Excellent Early Mac Adventure Game
Look: 9/10 I really liked the drawings, they were so detailed and like a true artist made them (often these graphic text adventures feel like a programmer throwing together visuals ha), I wish every screen had a drawing. Beautiful UI, absolutely gorgeous drawings, great Look. Ngl, I even like the Font for What Now and Moves/Score... like I hadn't seen …
Look: 9/10
I really liked the drawings, they were so detailed and like a true artist made them (often these graphic text adventures feel like a programmer throwing together visuals ha), I wish every screen had a drawing. Beautiful UI, absolutely gorgeous drawings, great Look. Ngl, I even like the Font for What Now and Moves/Score... like I hadn't seen any computer games using such a variety of fonts yet, this feels so... modern... and decidedly Mac-y :-p Not that this was my favorite screen, but I finally took a second to screenshot it to show what I mean about the detail and UI and fonts 
Okay, this screen I like a bit better, tho I really wish I had screenshotted the opening 2 screens 
Ok ok I think you get the idea. I like the drawings... 
Play: 8/10 The descriptions were wordy but cool that it has the option to go with Brief descriptions haha. I don't think I could ahve solved these puzzles on my own, but luckily there is a solution available. It's cool how it seems to indicate which directions you can go, also cool how there are unique features like a Panic button; the Moves/Score are always visible; and the usual Mac drop down menus like being able to see your Inventory that way or Look that way etc. In the end, it's really just a classic text adventure, with uniquely detailed Mac-style drawings and a Mac-style UI without as much of the usual Mac point and click mechanics.
Never a fan of having to eat, drink, rest, etc. in adventure games. I dunno. Just give me a health factor ha. But I did think using the drop down menu to "Diagnose" when it told me my throat feels a bit dry was kind of cute :-p For the most part, the parser was great, but sometimes a drop-down would have helped, since it's a Mac adventure after all. Like, the parser was petty about "22 story building" not working--it's gotta be "22-story building" and so on. For such an advanced game, felt silly having to consider those things.
Feel: 9/10 Yay for no petty text adventure randomized/rng-based deaths! And yay for a manageable thirst/hunger factor (tho if I didn't have a solution to rely on, I'm sure that could've been more frustrating).
Attachment: 8/10
And before I knew it, I was already near the end (plus, look at this screen) 
I'd gone on quite the odd journey... It was nice to see a text adventure finally hold my attention, it'd been a while, the mid-80s definitely are turning me on to shoot em ups, platformers, and action-adventures (soon RPGs too, I think/hope). The right length, with a great Look to make you eager for the next drawn scene. Like I always used to say about text adventures when they were "fresher" in the late 70s and early 80s, even tho I really loved this game, I can't claim I will regularly devote time to replaying text adventures. But, if I were to go for early Mac adventures, this would be right there beside Enchanted Scepters! Great game! (Not to mention, like Enchanted Scepters, I don't see myself forgetting this game any time soon, and even when I may not regularly replay a genre, not forgetting a game is a form of attachment too) Plus who knows, maybe some student or family member will express interest in text adventures and this would be one of my examples of a great mid-80s text adventure after showing my favorite late-70s/early-80s ones too :-p And tada! (not sure what happened to the text there ha, it hadn't been doing that before) 
Completion: Main Story, 1340/1500 Score Playtime: ~45 mins