Suspended (video game)

Last updated
Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare
Suspended box art.jpg
Box cover
Developer(s) Infocom
Publisher(s) Infocom
Designer(s) Michael Berlyn
Engine ZIL
Platform(s) Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Plus/4, IBM PC, Macintosh, TI-99/4A, TRS-80
ReleaseRelease 5: February 22, 1983

Release 7: April 19, 1983
Release 8: May 21, 1983

Release 8: May 21, 1984
Genre(s) Adventure, Interactive fiction
Mode(s) Single-player

Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare is an interactive fiction video game written by Michael Berlyn and published by Infocom in 1983. Infocom's sixth game, it was released for Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), TRS-80, and TI-99/4A. It was later available for Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari ST. [1]

Contents

Plot

The player's character has been embedded within a facility that controls vital systems, such as moving public transportation belts and weather control, for an Earth-settled planet called Contra. During the player's five-hundred-year tenure, the player would normally be kept in stasis while his sleeping mind serves as the Central Mentality for the largely self-maintaining systems. As the game opens, however, he is awakened by severe error messages; something is going wrong. The facility has suffered catastrophic damage from an earthquake, and the Filtering Computers are shutting down or becoming dangerously unstable. The inhabitants of the city assume that the Central Mentality has gone insane and is purposely harming the city, as a previous CM had done. The player's task is to repair the damage and restore the systems to normal states before a crew arrives at the facility to "disconnect" his mind, killing him, to be replaced with a clone. [2]

Gameplay

Start of the game (C64) Suspended on Commodore 64.gif
Start of the game (C64)
Game world (excerpt) Suspended-map.jpg
Game world (excerpt)

Rather than being free to move about and interact with the game world directly, the player's character spends the entire game in a state of suspended animation (hence the title) and can only interact by controlling the actions of a number of robot surrogates. Each robot has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, and describes the same rooms and objects in completely different terms based upon those specializations. The robots are:

  1. Iris - The only robot with visual sensors, Iris can provide visual descriptions of locations and objects. As the game begins, however, Iris has suffered a burnt-out microchip and cannot see. Iris is confined to the area surrounding the Central Chamber.
  2. Whiz - The most technical robot, Whiz is used mainly for interfacing with a central library computer for historical and technical information.
  3. Waldo - The most capable physical manipulator, with several limbs for grasping and holding objects, Waldo perceives the world using sonar. (The term "Waldo" was originally coined by Robert A. Heinlein to describe teleoperated robots.)
  4. Auda - Auda is equipped with sensitive audio receptors and can provide information on sounds and vibrations.
  5. Poet - A diagnostic robot, Poet can sense the flow of electricity; he tends to communicate in somewhat cryptic language.
  6. Sensa - Sensa is specialized for the detection of magnetic and photon emissions.

So, for example, Auda will describe a room primarily in terms of the sounds being generated there, Poet will describe it in terms of diagnostics of the equipment there (and phrase it in amusingly metaphorical language), and Iris will provide a visual description. All six of the robots can be given orders in conjunction, and some of the challenges the player faces require that several of the robots work together to solve them.

There is a seventh robot, an all-purpose multifunction repair robot named Fred, who spends the entirety of the game broken and cannot be repaired.

Suspended has six ways to die. [3]

Release

The cover of the original release was a three-dimensional moulded plastic mask, with cut-outs that revealed eyes printed on the game's manual. Reissues of the game had a more conventional cover. Each package included the following physical items:

  1. A map of the facility and small tokens representing each robot. These were intended to allow the player to more easily keep track of each character's whereabouts in the somewhat confusing layout of the facility. Unlike most other text adventure games, the room descriptions of Suspended do not mention the directions of possible exits, which makes the map vital to playing.
  2. Briefing for the Contra Central Mentality, a booklet that provides an overview of the facility, the robots, the computer system, and the player character's responsibilities
  3. A letter from the Contra Central Lottery Commission Headquarters explaining that the player has been chosen to serve as Central Mentality for the next 500 years
  4. A Contra Central Mentality Lottery Card

Reception

The game sold 99,956 copies. [4]

Suspended was well received by critics. Softline praised the feelies as "continued breakthroughs in packaging and merchandising", and noted the game's replayability. The magazine concluded that "Suspended represents another milestone in the continuing evolution of the interactive computer novel." [5] Computer Gaming World considered each robot to have a unique personality, and praised the use of the library computer as an in-game hint system. The game's parser and time-saving techniques (such as a "follow" command) were similarly praised. [6] Brian Moriarty of ANALOG Computing also praised the robots' characterization, stating that "a few hours with these electronic personalities will make them your friends" and comparing the experience to that of "a fine novel". He concluded that Suspended and other Infocom products "are among the finest examples of a new and entertaining means of self-expression which can now be regarded as 'literature' without apology." [7] Ahoy! wrote that Berlyn "has lavished a good deal of complexity and eccentricity into his game. I recommend it." [8] Compute!'s Gazette called Suspended "an exciting, imaginative adventure game that's likely to keep you glued to your keyboard for hours." Although it also noted how the "response time can be somewhat slow" and "some commands require as long as two or more minutes for a response." But the Compute! review concluded: "If the small inconvenience of a sometimes slow response does not bother you, then I can highly recommend Suspended." [9] Hi-Res wrote that Suspended "is an excellent game" and "a worthy successor to the Zork series." [10]

The game received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Computer Game" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards. [11] : 28 

Bill Wallace reviewed Suspended in Space Gamer No. 68. [12] Wallace commented that "If you do like text adventures - difficult ones - then this game is a must." [12]

In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Suspended the 58th-best computer game ever released. [13]

Related Research Articles

Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called Cornerstone.

Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of Interactive narratives or Interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.

<i>Zork</i> 1977 video game

Zork is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and split the game into three titles—Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master—which were released commercially for a range of personal computers beginning in 1980. In Zork, the player explores the abandoned Great Underground Empire in search of treasure. The player moves between the game's hundreds of locations and interacts with objects by typing commands in natural language that the game interprets. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's commands. It has been described as the most famous piece of interactive fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Meretzky</span> American video game developer

Steven Eric Meretzky is an American video game developer. He is best known for creating Infocom games in the early 1980s, including collaborating with author Douglas Adams on the interactive fiction version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one of the first games to be certified "platinum" by the Software Publishers Association. Later, he created the Spellcasting trilogy, the flagship adventure series of Legend Entertainment. He has been involved in almost every aspect of game development, from design to production to quality assurance and box design.

<i>The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy</i> (video game) 1984 video game

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction video game based on the comedic science fiction series of the same name. It was designed by series creator Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky, and it was first released in 1984 for the Apple II, Macintosh, Commodore 64, CP/M, MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari 8-bit family, and Atari ST. It is Infocom's fourteenth game.

<i>Wishbringer</i> 1985 video game

Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams is an interactive fiction video game written by Brian Moriarty and published by Infocom in 1985. It was intended to be an easier game to solve than the typical Infocom release and provide a good introduction to interactive fiction for inexperienced players, and was very well received.

<i>Planetfall</i> 1983 video game

Planetfall is a science fiction themed interactive fiction computer game written by Steve Meretzky, and the eighth title published by Infocom in 1983. The original release included versions for Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, TRS-80, and IBM PC compatibles. The Atari ST and Commodore 64 versions were released in 1985. A version for CP/M was also released. Although Planetfall was Meretzky's first title, it proved one of his most popular works and a best-seller for Infocom; it was one of five top-selling titles to be re-released in Solid Gold versions including in-game hints. Planetfall uses the Z-machine originally developed for the Zork franchise and was added as a bonus to the "Zork Anthology".

<i>Enchanter</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Enchanter is a 1983 interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling and published by Infocom. The first fantasy game published by Infocom after the Zork trilogy, it was originally intended to be Zork IV. The game has a parser that understands over 700 words, making it the most advanced interactive fiction game of its time. It was Infocom's ninth game.

<i>Beyond Zork</i> 1987 video game

Beyond Zork is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and released by Infocom in 1987. It was one of the last games in the Zork series developed by Infocom. It signified a notable departure from the standard format of Infocom's earlier games which relied purely on text and puzzle-solving: among other features, Beyond Zork incorporated a crude on-screen map, the use of character statistics and levels, and RPG combat elements.

<i>Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur</i> Interactive fiction video game

Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur is an illustrated interactive fiction video game written by Bob Bates and published by Infocom in 1989. It was released for the Apple II, Amiga, Macintosh, and IBM PC compatibles. Atypically for an Infocom product, it shows illustrations of locations, characters and objects within the game. It is Infocom's thirty-fourth game and is the second of two Infocom games developed by Challenge using Infocom's development tools.

<i>Zork Zero</i> 1988 text adventure game

Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz is an interactive fiction computer game, written by Steve Meretzky over nearly 18 months and published by Infocom in 1988. Although it is the ninth and last Zork game released by Infocom before the company's closure, Zork Zero takes place before the previous eight games. Unlike its predecessors, Zork Zero is a vast game, featuring a graphical interface with scene-based colors and borders, an interactive map, menus, an in-game hints system, an interactive Encyclopedia Frobozzica, and playable graphical mini-games. The graphics were created by computer artist James Shook. It is Infocom's thirty-second game.

<i>Spellbreaker</i> 1985 video game

Spellbreaker is an interactive fiction computer game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1985, the third and final game in the "Enchanter Trilogy." It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, and DOS. Infocom's nineteenth game, Spellbreaker is rated "Expert" difficulty.

<i>Deadline</i> (1982 video game) 1982 video game

Deadline is an interactive fiction detective video game published by Infocom in 1982. Written by Marc Blank, it was Infocom's third game. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Osborne 1, TRS-80, and later for the Amiga and Atari ST.

<i>Infidel</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Infidel is an interactive fiction video game published by Infocom in 1983. It was written and designed by Michael Berlyn and Patricia Fogleman, and was the first in the "Tales of Adventure" line. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC, TRS-80, and TI-99/4A. Ports were later published for Macintosh, Atari ST, and Amiga. Infidel is Infocom's tenth game.

<i>The Witness</i> (1983 video game) 1983 video game

The Witness is an interactive fiction video game published by Infocom in 1983. Like Infocom's earlier title Deadline, it is a murder mystery. The Witness was written in the ZIL language for the Z-machine, which allowed it to be released simultaneously on many systems. It is Infocom's seventh game.

<i>Plundered Hearts</i> 1987 video game

Plundered Hearts is an interactive fiction video game created by Amy Briggs and published by Infocom in 1987. Infocom's only game in the romance genre, it was released simultaneously for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh, and DOS. It is Infocom's twenty-eighth game.

<i>Fooblitzky</i> 1985 board game video game

Fooblitzky is a board game-style video game published by Infocom in 1985 and designed by a team which included interactive fiction authors Marc Blank and Michael Berlyn. It is unique among Infocom titles for not being interactive fiction and for being the first to incorporate graphics beyond ASCII characters. Unlike most Infocom games, it was only released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, and IBM PC compatibles.

<i>Shamus</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Shamus is a flip-screen shooter with light action-adventure game elements written by Cathryn Mataga and published by Synapse Software. The original Atari 8-bit family version was released on disk and tape in 1982. According to Synapse co-founder Ihor Wolosenko, Shamus made the company famous by giving it a reputation for quality.

Michael Berlyn was an American video game designer and writer. He was best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team. He is also known as the designer behind Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (1993) and Bubsy 3D (1996).

<i>Drol</i> 1983 video game

Drol is a video game published by Broderbund in 1983. It was written for the Apple II by Benny Aik Beng Ngo, then ported to the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family. Versions were released for the SG-1000 in 1985 and Amiga in 1991.

References

  1. ↑ jbindeck2015 (2019-03-20). "50 Underrated Commodore Amiga Games". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2022-11-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ "Disconnection Policy". 2022-10-12. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  3. ↑ "Infocom Scoreboard" (PDF). The New Zork Times. 3 (2): 3. Spring 1984.
  4. ↑ "Great Scott: Infocom's All-Time Sales Numbers Revealed". GameSetWatch. Think Services. September 20, 2008. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
  5. ↑ Berlyn, Michael (May–Jun 1983). "Suspended". Softline. 2 (5): 42. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Stone, David P. (July–August 1983). "SUSPENDED : Review". Computer Gaming World . Vol. 3, no. 4. pp. 10–11, 46. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  7. ↑ Moriarty, Brian (July–August 1983). "SUSPENDED by Michael Berlyn". ANALOG Computing. pp. 64–65.
  8. ↑ Sodaro, Robert J. (January 1984). "Suspended". Ahoy!. pp. 54–55. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  9. ↑ Carmichael, Dan (February 1984). "Suspended for Commodore 64". Compute! Gazette. pp. 108–116. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  10. ↑ Guber, Sol (May–June 1984). "M.U.L.E." Hi-Res. p. 14. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (February 1984). "Arcade Alley: The 1984 Arcade Awards, Part II". Video . Reese Communications. 7 (11): 28–29. ISSN   0147-8907.
  12. 1 2 Wallace, Bill (March–April 1984). "Capsule Reviews". Space Gamer . Steve Jackson Games (68): 44.
  13. ↑ Staff (November 1996). "150 Best (and 50 Worst) Games of All Time". Computer Gaming World . No. 148. pp. 63–65, 68, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 84, 88, 90, 94, 98.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.