Game Review: Questprobe feat. The Hulk (Atari, Americana)

First game I ever owned for the Vic 20 was Adventureland by Scott Adams. Even though I’d always loved arcade shoot-em-ups, that one text adventure was a huge influence on my gaming interests going forward no matter what system I owned. I bought all five of his Vic 20 releases, everything for the Commodore 64, and was overjoyed when I discovered the Questprobe series he created in partnership with Marvel comics. Even though it never reached its full potential, being cancelled after just 3 out of the planned 12 games, it was a series I look back on fondly. But how well does the Atari version of Questprobe featuring The Hulk – the first in the series – hold up today?

Atari and The Hulk – Cutting Corners?

For the Americana release of The Hulk, sadly we don’t quite get the same experience as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum counterparts. This version was written to run in just 16k and as such, all of the graphics from the other ports were left out. Immediately, comparisons are going to be made to the other text-only versions of the game that were released for the Commodore 16 and BBC Micro.

As with the BBC version, on first impressions it does seem as if the only compromise that seems to have been made is with the visuals and the game itself remains untouched.

The Game

The Questprobe range of adventures was an ambitious project. Created by Scott Adams in conjunction with some of Marvel’s top writers and artists, the series centred around a mysterious character – the Chief Examiner. In each of the games, you gradually learn more about this strange being, while collecting gems scattered around the game’s environment and using each hero’s abilities and in the case of The Hulk primarily his raw strength.

As well as the lead superhero, others from the Marvel universe make guest appearances so expect a few surprise encounters along the way. This was mainly done for characters who weren’t planned to have their own games in the 12-part series and in this one as well as Hulk’s alter ego Bruce Banner, there’s an appearance from another doctor… one Steven Strange.

Presentation

When it comes to text adventures, especially those that don’t have graphics of any kind, what is vital is how the text is displayed. Getting the colour scheme and on-screen contrast right is essential to make for comfortable viewing and ensuring that any play session is as stress free and enjoyable as possible. With The Hulk, text is presented in light blue against a dark blue background and while it’s perfectly readable I have to be honest and say that it’s not ideal.

Personally I would have preferred a lighter background and darker text – black on light grey for example – and while this colour scheme is fine for shorter gaming sessions, it’s not something I could stick with for longer periods of time.

Gameplay

The core game seen in the other versions of The Hulk remains the same. The puzzles are identical, and the same applies to the text and the game’s map. In fact, the frustration other players found with the map are still there as you’ll find yourself going around in circles as locations wrap around in endless loops and the map itself seems to be much smaller than you might think. This does seem to be a trait for many of Scott Adams earlier games but I do recommend mapping the game manually to help find your way around.

One thing I was reassured to see retained was Limbo. This location is somewhere you’re sent whenever your character dies and leaving here takes you straight back to the starting point, but with all your inventory and game status intact so you can just continue where you left off. Essentially this is a respawn point linked to the initial control room, but for a game that can kill you without warning so easily, this is an essential feature. This was actually cut from the Commodore 16 version (presumably due to memory restrictions) so it’s a relief to find it here.

Keep It Simple

Unlike later text adventures, The Hulk is limited to two word commands which was the norm for everything written by Scott Adams. While it does make some puzzles harder to figure out than others, it’s a system you do get used to quickly. The lack of a hints system doesn’t help (you’re just advised to buy a hint book if you ask) so sometimes it’s more a case of trial and error to think of the right words even if you are sure that know how to solve a particular puzzle.

Overall

The Hulk is still an incredibly frustrating adventure and isn’t one of Adams’ strongest. But if you can get past all of the limitations of the old-school two word parser and mind-bending puzzles, you’ll find an entertaining game underneath. It’s an impressive feat fitting the whole game into 16k on the Atari although I would have prefered a 48k version with graphics instead. Still worth getting for adventure and Marvel fans though.

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