The Beverly Hillbillies | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Synergistic Software |
Publisher(s) | Capstone Software |
Director(s) | Robert C. Clardy |
Producer(s) | Leigh M. Rothschild (Executive) David Turner |
Programmer(s) | James David Walley Michael D. Branham |
Artist(s) | Kirt Lemons |
Composer(s) | Christopher Barker |
Engine | World Builder |
Platform(s) | MS-DOS |
Release | 1993 |
Genre(s) | Adventure |
The Beverly Hillbillies is a video game developed by Synergistic Software and published in 1993 by Capstone Software for IBM PC compatibles. It was released in conjunction with the 1993 film of the same name (itself a remake of the 1960s television show). The game, a point-and-click adventure, tells the story of the Clampetts, a poor family in the Ozarks who discover oil on their property and become millionaires, moving to Beverly Hills with their newfound wealth. Despite being a tie-in to the film, the game shares only vague similarities in plot.
Poorly received at its release, The Beverly Hillbillies has since been mentioned as one of the worst video games ever made [1] because of its frustrating puzzles and numerous bugs.
Jed Clampett is hunting rabbit near the family's shack in the Ozark Mountains. During the hunt, he stumbles upon an oil field, generating millions in wealth for the family. The family drives their jalopy across the Los Angeles freeway, eventually arriving at their new home in Beverly Hills.
In Los Angeles, the Clampetts meet a bank employee named Tyler and plan a hoedown to celebrate their arrival. During the hoedown, Granny Clampett is kidnapped by Tyler and his partner-in-crime Laura in a scheme to embezzle the Clampetts' wealth. The family discovers Granny locked in a bank vault.
To free Granny, the Clampetts concoct a "tonic" using a variety of strange ingredients, including a bear claw, corn mash, and weasel hair. The tonic is then used to weaken the vault door. Granny is rescued, and Tyler and Laura are thwarted.
The Beverly Hillbillies received mixed to negative reviews on release. A Computer Gaming World review noted its "banal puzzles" and stated that adventure game fans should "look elsewhere." [2] A review in Game Players PC Entertainment called the game "atrocious," scoring the game 0.5/5 and criticizing "obtuse" puzzles and poor humor. [3]
The game has been remembered as an example of the poor quality of licensed games, [4] as well as one of the "biggest stinkers of all time." [1]
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family from the hills of Tennessee, who move to posh Beverly Hills, California, after striking oil on their land. The show was produced by Filmways and was created by Paul Henning. It was followed by two other Henning-inspired "country cousin" series on CBS: Petticoat Junction and its spin-off Green Acres, which reversed the rags-to-riches, country-to-city model of The Beverly Hillbillies.
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.
Shovelware is a term for individual video games or software bundles known more for the quantity of what is included than for the quality or usefulness.
Myst is a graphic adventure designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released in 1993 for the Macintosh. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. From there, solving puzzles allows the player to travel to other worlds ("Ages"), which reveal the backstory of the game's characters and help the player make the choice of whom to aid. The player interacts with objects and walks to different locations by clicking on pre-rendered imagery.
Granny's Garden is an educational adventure game for the British BBC Micro computer, released in 1983. It served as a first introduction to computers for many schoolchildren in the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s. According to the 4Mation webpage about the original version, it was the reason many teachers decided that computers had a real place in education. The software is still available in its original and updated formats.
Donna Douglas was an American actress and singer, known for her role as Elly May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971). Following her acting career, Douglas became a real estate agent, gospel singer, inspirational speaker, and author of books for children and adults.
The Beverly Hillbillies is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Jim Varney, Diedrich Bader, Dabney Coleman, Erika Eleniak, Cloris Leachman, Rob Schneider, Lea Thompson and Lily Tomlin.
Sid & Al's Incredible Toons is a puzzle video game developed by Dynamix and released by Sierra On-Line in 1993.
"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" is the theme song for the television series The Beverly Hillbillies and the later movie of that name, providing the introductory story for the series. The song was composed by Paul Henning, and recorded first by bluegrass musicians Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, with Lester Flatt singing. The single phono-album version, released for radio and retail sale, merges both the beginning and ending lyrics of the theme song of the television series. The beginning theme comprises the first two verses, and the ending theme is the third verse. A banjo-dominated sequence occurs between verses and as the ending fade-out. The song was sung by Jerry Scoggins for the beginning of the series, with instruments played by Flatt and Scruggs.
Synergistic Software was a video game developer based in Seattle. Founded in 1978, the company published some of the earliest available games and applications for the Apple II family of computers. They continued developing games for various platforms into the late 1990s.
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon is an adventure game released on Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 in November 2003. It is the third installment in the Broken Sword series, released six years after the previous instalment, The Smoking Mirror. The Sleeping Dragon moved the series to 3D graphics, and is the only game in the series not to use a point and click interface. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American patent lawyer who flies to the Congo to write a patent for a scientist who claims to have found a source of unlimited energy.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game, and the first in the Broken Sword series, co-written and directed by Charles Cecil, and developed by Revolution Software. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris, as he attempts to unravel a deep conspiracy involving a sinister cult and a hidden treasure, seeing him travel to various locations around Europe and the Middle East. The game's storyline was conceived to feature a serious tone and heavily influenced by research on Knights Templar by Cecil, but was also interlaced with humor and graphics in the style of classic animated films.
Lula 3D is an adult adventure video game developed and published by cdv Software Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was released in Europe on June 22, 2005. It is part of the Lula video game series.
The Addams Family is a platform game based on the 1991 film of the same name and developed and published by Ocean Software. It was released for home consoles such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, computers such as the Amiga, and handheld consoles like the Game Boy.
Armed & Delirious is a 1997 adventure game for Microsoft Windows. It was written and created by Israelis Benny Davidovich and Makh-Shevet Ltd., and published by Sir-Tech. The player is a delirious grandmother who tries to save her family. Her family, who were cruel to animals, are imprisoned by the Great Rabbit. It has very surreal gameplay and nonsensical puzzles.
Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure is a 2006 puzzle adventure game developed by Kheops Studio and published by The Adventure Company. It is the spiritual successor to Daydream Software's 1997 title Safecracker.
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of genres. Most adventure games are designed for a single player, since the emphasis on story and character makes multiplayer design difficult. Colossal Cave Adventure is identified as the first such adventure game, first released in 1976, while other notable adventure game series include Zork, King's Quest, Monkey Island, Syberia, and Myst.
Spelling Jungle, also known as Yobi's Basic Spelling Tricks or Yobi's Magic Spelling Tricks, is an educational adventure game created by Bright Star Technology and released by Sierra in 1993 for both Windows and Macintosh PCs. The program is designed to strengthen reading, spelling, and logic skills in children ages 7–10.
Tales from the Borderlands is an episodic interactive comedy graphic adventure sci-fi video game based on the Borderlands series. It was developed by Telltale Games under license from Gearbox Software, the developer of the Borderlands series, and 2K, its publisher. The game was released in November 2014 for Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Jewels of the Oracle is a 1995 adventure game developed by ELOI Productions and published by Discis Knowledge Research Inc. It was released on Macintosh, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Windows. A sequel developed by Bardworks and published by Hoffman and Associates was released in 1998 entitled Jewels II: The Ultimate Challenge.