My Project Euler addiction has been effectively destroyed by taking away my mathemtical ability. A new baby has had that effect on me. But I still have a puzzle urge and time between feeds. So, I've been looking at the old Magnetic Scrolls text adventures. I tried Fish! and Guild of Thieves nearly 20 years ago, but never really got very far, so I was intrigued about having another go. Jinxster looked like a lot of fun, so I had a go...
And generally, it was! As with so many adventure games of the era, it's unforgiving and pedantic. You have to spell things out, and if you make a mistake it'll let you keep playing even though you can't play to completion. Having said that, it's friendly as far as the genre goes. In-game characters sometimes provide subtle hints, and the structure of the game allows progress even if you're stuck on one puzzle.
On the whole, the puzzles are rewarding. Initially, I thought there were a number of evil red herrings in the game, but it looks like a number of puzzles can be solved multiple ways! I'm almost proud of myself. I made it through the whole game except the last puzzle without spoilers. When I read the spoiler for the final puzzle, it basically told me how to do what I was already trying to do. *sigh*
In fact, I found the whole ending section disappointing. The last puzzle was put together slightly shoddily, and the ending might have tried to be a clever twist but... no thanks. It's a shame, really, as I rather enjoyed the game as a whole. I may have to play another.
Posted 2009-12-07.