Pixel Lovin’: What happened to Text Adventures?

Before we start I know some people will be asking the question “what is a Text Adventure?”

And the answer to this is in the title! Text Adventures often referred to as Interactive fiction (IF) are games, in which players use text commands to interact with the environment to solve puzzles etc…

These types of games were most popular in the 1980′s as graphics weren’t as powerful as today’s PS3′s and 360′s so it was an ideal time for this type of game! One of the first games to be produced and commercially sold was Zork I but my first memory of text base games was Monkey Island!

Now this does bring back memories of spending hours trying to work out what to type into the game to get to the next part of the game! But The Monkey Island saga is known throughout the gaming world and is considered some of the best adventure games ever.

The main charactor is called Guybrush Threepwood and he wants to be a pirate (as we all wanted to be! and some are!) but in order to become a pirate he must first complete 3 trials!

And this brings me to my first point of where what happened to Text Adventures? These type of games stopped being popular in the 1990s as there were more powerful computers on the market that could create all kinds of gaming styles such and Mario, Sonic etc…

But saying this there has been a few Text Adventure games released that have been very good such is the case with Hotel Dusk: Room 125!

Hotel Dusk: Room 125 is on the Nintendo DS and makes very good use of the touch screen of the DS and I have to say from the very start I was hooked on this game!

The style in which the environment has been draw is such a nice feel as it looks like the article is still making the final touches to the game! And the story is classic Detective novel material!

“The game takes place in the fictional Hotel Dusk, a small, somewhat rundown hotel located in the southwestern United States near Los Angeles, California during the year 1979. The game’s protagonist is Kyle Hyde, a former member of the New York Police Department searching for his old partner, Brian Bradley. During his stay at the hotel, Kyle unravels a mystery shrouded in the hotel’s past that may lead him to the answers he’s looking for.”

Now I believe this game wouldn’t be very good at all if it wasn’t on the DS as there Touch screen makes this feel like you are reading a book so you get completely sucked in to the game!

So all I can say is that we need more Text Adventure games as I think we have forgotten how much fun they can be!