The ''Interactive Fiction Collections'' is a video game series developed by
Infocom
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''.
Infocom was founded on ...
and published by
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
for the
PC and
classic Mac OS
Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. Th ...
.
Contents
The ''Interactive Fiction Collections'' are a series of five video game collections containing 31 of Infocom's 35 canonical titles, with themes of Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery, and Sci-Fi.
* ''The Adventure Collection'' (1995; contains ''
Border Zone
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it ...
'', ''
Cutthroats'',
Infidel
An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or the irreligious.
Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which the Churc ...
,
Plundered Hearts
''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, M ...
, and
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...
. Bonus titles are
Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video 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 P ...
and
Zork III
''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 ...
.)
* ''The Comedy Collection'' (1995; contains
Ballyhoo
The ballyhoo halfbeak or ballyhoo (''Hemiramphus brasiliensis'') is a baitfish of the halfbeak family (Hemiramphidae). It is similar to the Balao halfbeak (''H. balao'') in most features. Ballyhoo are frequently used as cut bait and for trollin ...
, ''
Bureaucracy'', ''
Hollywood Hijinx
''Hollywood Hijinx'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Dave Anderson and Liz Cyr-Jones and published by Infocom in 1986. The game was released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Commodore 64, ...
'' and ''
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
''Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Jeff O'Neill and published by Infocom in 1987. It was released simultaneously for MS-DOS, Commodore 64, and other platforms. ''Nord and Bert'' was ...
''). Bonus titles are
Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video 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 P ...
and
Zork I
''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, expand ...
.)
* ''The Fantasy Collection'' (1995; contains
Enchanter,
Seastalker
''Seastalker'' is an interactive fiction game written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom
Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. Th ...
, ''
Spellbreaker
''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, Atar ...
'', ''
Sorcerer
Sorcerer may refer to:
Magic
* Sorcerer (supernatural), a practitioner of magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources
* Sorcerer (fantasy), a fictional character who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sou ...
'', and ''
Wishbringer
''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 introduc ...
''. Bonus title are
Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video 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 P ...
and
Zork I
''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, expand ...
I.)
* ''The Mystery Collection '' (1995; contains ''
Deadline
Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to:
* Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished
Arts, entertainment, and media Comics
* Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain
* ''Deadline'' (magazine), a Britis ...
'', ''
The Lurking Horror
''The Lurking Horror'' is an interactive fiction game released by Infocom in 1987. The game was written by Dave Lebling and inspired by the horror fiction writings of H. P. Lovecraft (including his Cthulhu Mythos). The original release was for MS ...
'', ''
Moonmist'', ''
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels'', ''
Suspect
In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated ...
'' and ''
The Witness''. Bonus titles are
Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video 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 P ...
and ''
Zork Zero
''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 ...
.)''
* ''The Science Fiction Collection'' (1995; contains ''
A Mind Forever Voyaging
''A Mind Forever Voyaging'' (''AMFV'') is a 1985 interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom. It is Infocom's seventeenth game. The game was intended as a polemical critique of Ronald Reagan's pol ...
'', ''
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it w ...
,
Starcross
Starcross is a village with a 2011 census recorded population of 1,737 situated on the west shore of the Exe Estuary in Teignbridge in the English county of Devon. The village is popular in summer with leisure craft, and is home to one of t ...
'', ''
Stationfall
''Stationfall'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and released by Infocom in 1987. It was released for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, and MS-DOS,. The game is a sequel to ...
'', and ''
Suspended''. Bonus titles are
Beyond Zork and
Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video 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 P ...
.)
Infocom titles not included in this collection were
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur, Journey: The Quest Begins,
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore ...
, and James Clavell's Shogun.
Reception
''
Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "Simply put, these are some of the greatest adventure games of all time.
..if you want to have anything approaching a complete game library, you'll need to grab all of these."
References
{{reflist
Infocom games
Video games developed in the United States