| Questprobe featuring Spider-Man | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Adventure International |
| Publisher(s) | Adventure International |
| Designer(s) | Scott Adams |
| Artist(s) |
|
| Series | Questprobe |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | December 1984 |
| Genre(s) | Graphic adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Questprobe: Featuring Spider-Man is the second video game in the Questprobe series.
The player takes the role of Spider-Man, with powers including super strength and the ability to climb walls. [1] Unlike previous releases, this game was not limited to simple verb/noun input, and could accept complex sentences. [2]
Spider-Man begins the game imprisoned in a skyscraper which he must explore. [2] He encounters characters such as Sandman, Hydro-Man, and Ringmaster. [1] The player must solve puzzles and collect gems. [1] He also encounters Madame Web and Lizard. [2]
In 1983, Marvel Comics and Adventure International entered an agreement in which Marvel would grant Adventure a ten-year license to create a series of adventure games based on Marvel's characters. [3] [4] The first installment of the series, Questprobe featuring The Hulk , was released on May 1, 1984, [5] [6] and was accompanied by a comic of the same title. [7] In January 1985, developer Scott Adams revealed that he was developing a second Questprobe game with Al Milgrom based on Spider-Man, and disclosed plans to release a new game every three to five months, with a projected total of twelve or thirteen games. [3]
This was the second graphically illustrated adventure in the Questprobe series by Scott Adams. [8] The versions for Spectrum and Commodore 64 had graphics, but the other versions did not. [2] The game comes with a mini-comic to set the scene for the plot. [8]
Sinclair Programs said that "the adventure itself is excellent, with enough puzzles appearing immediately to keep any adventurer involved and intrigued". [1]
Personal Computer Games said that "the game is initially somewhat easier than The Hulk, but rapidly becomes very challenging. The White Wizard is currently deeply involved and urges other adventurers to join him". [2]
Home Computing Weekly wrote: "Classy, but rather over-priced: recommended for masochists and adventure freaks!" [8]
Paul Bond for Your Computer wrote: "Spider-man is the second adventure in the Questprobe series, a combination of comics and computer adventure games that allow you to become your favourite Marvel superhero". [9]
Scott Adams is an American entrepreneur, computer programmer, and video game designer. He co-founded, with then-wife Alexis, Adventure International in 1979. The company developed and published video games for home computers. The cornerstone products of Adventure International in its early years were the Adventure series of text adventures written by Adams.
The Quill is a program to write home computer adventure games. Written by Graeme Yeandle, it was published on the ZX Spectrum by Gilsoft in December 1983. Although available to the general public, it was used by several games companies to create best-selling titles; over 450 commercially published titles for the ZX Spectrum were written using The Quill.
Sabre Wulf is an action-adventure game released by British video game developer Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum home computer in 1984. The player navigates the pith-helmeted Sabreman through a 2D jungle maze while collecting amulet pieces to bypass the guardian at its exit. The player does not receive explicit guidance on how to play and is left to decipher the game's objectives through trial and error. Sabreman moves between the maze's 256 connected screens by touching the border where one screen ends and another begins. Each screen is filled with colourful flora, enemies that spawn at random, and occasional collectibles.
Questprobe is a trilogy of graphical adventure video games featuring Marvel Comics characters. The three games are Questprobe featuring The Hulk, Questprobe featuring Spider-Man and Questprobe featuring Human Torch and Thing.
Colossal Adventure is a text based adventure game published by Level 9 Computing in 1982. It was originally released for the Nascom.
Underwurlde is a 1984 action-adventure platform video game in the Sabreman series by Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. The player controls the adventurer Sabreman as he jumps between platforms in a castle and its caverns to find an escape past the exit guardians. Underwurlde features about 600 flip screen areas. Unlike other games of its time, Sabreman is not injured when touched by enemies and is instead knocked backwards. Underwurlde is the second game in the series, between Sabre Wulf and Knight Lore, and released shortly before the latter for the ZX Spectrum in late 1984. Another developer, Firebird, ported the game to the Commodore 64 the next year.
Impossible Mission is a video game originally written for the Commodore 64 by Dennis Caswell and published by Epyx in 1984. The game features a variety of gameplay mechanics from platform and adventure games, and includes digitized speech. Impossible Mission, which casts the player in the role of a secret agent infiltrating an enemy stronghold, is widely considered one of the best games for several platforms.
Hungry Horace is a video game developed by Psion Software Ltd. and published by Sinclair Research in 1982 for Commodore 64, Dragon 32/64, Timex Sinclair 2068, ZX Spectrum, and later for Microsoft Windows and Android. It is the first game in the Horace series. The gameplay is noted to be very similar to Pac-Man, involving the collection of food pellets in a maze while avoiding enemies. Despite this, critical reception of the game was generally positive upon release.
The Worm in Paradise is the third and final video game in the Silicon Dreams trilogy, a series of text adventure games in which the player takes the role of Kim Kimberly. It is the sequel to Snowball and Return to Eden. Worm in Paradise takes place generations after the first two games, when the planet Eden has been colonised. The player is an ordinary citizen in Eden's most populous city, Enoch. The game was noteworthy for having significant social commentary relative to other games of the same genre and era. The game drew inspiration from the novel 1984.
Eureka! is a video game for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers, written by Ian Livingstone, developed by Novotrade for Andromeda Software and published by Domark in 1984.
Pirate Adventure is a text adventure program written by Scott Adams.
Dragon Skulle is an action-adventure game for the Commodore 64 published by Ultimate Play the Game in January 1986. It is a sequel to The Staff of Karnath, Entombed and Blackwyche, and the final title to feature the aristocrat adventurer, Sir Arthur Pendragon. The game was created by brothers Dave and Bob Thomas.
Brian Howarth is a British video game designer and computer programmer. He wrote many interactive fiction computer games in the early 1980s in a series called Mysterious Adventures. He was born in Blackpool in 1953.
Questprobe featuring The Hulk is a 1984 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Adventure International in collaboration with Marvel Comics. It is the first entry in Questprobe, an intended series of graphic adventure games that only released three installments before the developer's bankruptcy. The game's narrative follows the Marvel superhero Hulk and his human alter-ego Bruce Banner, who must explore the mysterious lair of the Chief Examiner. The graphics and story outline were created by Marvel artists and writers. Critical reception was generally positive, with much of the praise going to the visuals. Reactions to the gameplay were mixed, especially upon the game's budget re-release, by which time it was considered dated.
Temple of Apshai Trilogy is a remake of three games from the Dunjonquest series, Temple of Apshai, Upper Reaches of Apshai, and Curse of Ra.
Piranha Software was a short-lived video game publishing label created by Macmillan Publishers in 1986 and closed eighteen months later. In that time it gained a reputation for its unusual output from well known developers such as Don Priestley, Design Design and Delta 4. The majority of their games featured licensed properties including the first video game based on the Discworld novels and two games based on the animated television series The Trap Door.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is an action game published by Crystal Computing in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It is loosely based on the adventure gamebook of the same name written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and published by Puffin Books in 1982.
Questprobe featuring Human Torch and the Thing is the third and final video game in the Questprobe series.
Robin of Sherwood: The Touchstones of Rhiannon is a 1985 video game by Adventure International, created as a TV tie-in to the television series Robin of Sherwood. It was released on the ZX Spectrum computer.
