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The promotion brought you up to the rank of Lieutenant
First Class, with new duties including collecting and
dispatching forms, including the 'Request for Slella
Patrol Issue Regulation Black Form Binders Request Form'
forms which you have been assigned to pick up today.
Stationfall
opens with you on deck 12 of the SPS Duffy -- the administrative
section. Armed only with three forms, an ID card, a
chronometer and an all-weather uniform, it's your task
to find transport and fly to Space Station Gamma Delta
Gamma 777-G 59/59 Sector Alpha-Mu-79. However, to ensure
a successful mission you are to be aided by a droid.
One of three can be chosen from the robot pool; Rex
the bionic who's big and butch; Helen the spindly synthetic
and -- wait for it -- Floyd the droid, your old pal
from Resida. Choosing the wrong computerised companion
results in a quiver of Floyd's lower lip and your swift
demise.
The
spacetruck is not hard to find, and successfully navigating
it to the Space Station is a breeze (unless you don't
have the assignment completion form which comes with
the packaging).
Upon
reaching G-D-G 777-G, your suspicions are aroused by
the lack of a welcoming committee in the docking bay.
The creases in your brow deepen as a swift reconnoitre
of the surrounding corridors reveals no life at all
(apart from Plato the droid who likes to read). Very
soon you find yourself discovering objects and situations
which point to what may have befallen the Space Station.
Slowly, unerringly you are drawn into another investigative
quest.
Stationfall's
author is Steve Meretzky, a man who has written several
games for Infocom, including such classics at Planetfall
(Stationfall's predecessor), Sorcerer
and Leather Goddesses. His latest adventure creation
is certainly on a par with his previous work, incorporating
atmosphere, humour and a plethora of puzzles which combine
well to pull you in and let you live the life of a Lieutenant
First Class for a while. Footnotes are welcome additions
to the text, aiding those of us who have not played
Planetfall or are perhaps a little confused by
some of the objects or places which appear.
One
small niggle -- is it my imagination or has Infocom's
disk access time increased? Input 'insert robot form
into slot' when at the robot pool and the wait is 37
seconds before you receive a reply. Perhaps my perpetuity
coordinator is malfunctioning sufficiently to slow time
down for me while I'm in the human continuum, and this
delay may not appear too drastic to mankind!
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