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Sir Ramic Hobbs and the High Level Gorilla

by Gil Williamson

Episode 1 of Sir Ramic Hobbs
Fantasy, Humor
1989

(based on 1 rating)
1 review

Game Details

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


The first adventure of Sir Ramic Hobbs: knight, drunkard, and dimwit. Although Hobbs is contractually bound to rescue a pricess from an enormous gorilla, the goal of this game is simply to get home safely. Makes interesting use of the narrative voice: the text of the game is spoken by a disembodied wizard who accompanies and advises Hobbs. Full of insult jokes, names based on strained puns, and absurd and anachronistic objects (notably, an ancient Chinese steam locomotive). Somewhat linear, with several points where you can't go back to retrieve items left behind. Makes frequent use of the verb "USE". Hints are available in most rooms via the "help" command.

-- Carl Muckenhoupt

SPAG
Corny, yes......but really a light, fun little game with no pretenses except to entertain the player and present some interesting puzzles.
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SynTax
There are over 60 locations, plenty of entertaining descriptive text, amusing responses and lots of well thought out puzzles. If you get stuck then Wizard Prang is always in the background with advice - just hit HELP - and BO may have something interesting to say on the subject. (I particularly liked his discourse on the mating habits of wire coathangers!) (Neil Shipman)
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SynTax

The author has crafted a highly enjoyable and memorable work, and constructed some ingenious puzzles which result in an addictive and entertaining game that will delight adventurers old and new. It has a wonderful atmosphere and variety of location settings. The author has not been too hard on the player, either, and has introduced objects, the uses of which are reasonably logical and not too obscure. (Phil Richmond)
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Member Reviews

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Number of Reviews: 1
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Suicide by vitamin C, February 7, 2021
by Rovarsson (Belgium)
Related reviews: Fantasy

Wow! This game sure doesn't beat around the bush. You, as Sir Ramic Hobbs, an out-of-shape and severely hung-over knight, are dropped in a bear cave. An agreement which you do not remember signing says you swear to save the damsel from the High Level Gorilla. Now on your way, start adventuring!

Sir Ramic Hobbs and the High Level Gorilla is a text-adventure from the old ages. Within the first few turns, a ton of anachronisms and wildly differing rooms have flown by. Each on its own, these are pretty funny. As a whole however ... uhm, they don't make a whole.

The gameworld is totally off its rockers. The locations and the mood are wildly inconsistent. The only thing holding this game together is whatever the author's impulses thought was funny at the time. This incoherent setting and atmosphere may get a few laughs, but it sure is not engaging or immersive.

Fortunately, this setting is home to some good puzzles. Apart from getting the right objects to use in the right spot, you also have to watch out that you move from room to room at the right time. If not, some invincible adversary will stop you from progressing further or just kill you on the spot. There are lots of opportunities to forget an object or an action in a room that you cannot get back to later. This means that the metacommands SAVE, RESTORE and UNDO are completely legitimate adventuring commands. Go explore the neighboring rooms and restore when you are confident that you have the lay of the land memorized.

There are two in-game help-resources: an overly humble "Bloodcurdling Owl", whose responses are so selfdeprecating they sound insulting to you, and the disembodied voice of Wizard Prang, your narrator (who doesn't seem to think very highly of your knightly skills... Up to you to decide whether to trust the advice this odd pair gives.

The absolute zaniness of this game amused me enough to keep looking just a bit further, and I'm glad I did. About three quarters into the game I encountered a Great Puzzle. The kind of puzzle that would be so obvious in real life, but that somehow manages to keep evading your wits in an adventure game. When I finally found the solution, I smiled. Nay, I grinned. Ear to ear. You know what I mean...

The High Level Gorilla is an uneven mix of dumb jokes, funny juxtapositions and non-sequiturs, frustrating deaths and at least one glorious puzzle moment.
Worth playing.

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Games with stupid player characters by murphy_slaw
I'm looking for games where the player character is significantly stupider and/or less observant than the average player - the kind of game where part of the challenge is making sense of the descriptions offered through the simplistic...

Split-up PC functionality by baf
In a normal game, there is a single fictional entity that is considered to be: - The protagonist: the character that the player is meant to identify with, and whose goals you are trying to achieve - The viewpoint character: the character...




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