The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky

Science Fiction, Humor, Literary
1984

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Reviews and Ratings

5 star:
(77)
4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Rating:
Number of Ratings: 180
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- draziwfozo, September 2, 2019

- Robin Johnson (Edinburgh, Scotland), June 21, 2019

- Vigorish (Bradenton, Florida ), November 23, 2018

- Seth Fisher (Texas), June 28, 2018

- lobespear, October 31, 2017

- enkaye (usa), September 1, 2017

- RottenSnail, March 18, 2017

- Spike, February 26, 2017

- Greg Frost (Seattle, Washington), February 11, 2017

- Denk, January 18, 2017

- EngineerWolf (India), December 18, 2016

- SciFinn (Alberta, Canada), December 14, 2016

- macabremobster2 (Frederick, Colorado), November 9, 2016

- maeslor, October 23, 2016

- jeffhos, October 13, 2016

- Xavid, May 10, 2016

- PVince81 (Germany), April 23, 2016

- nichdel, April 11, 2016

- Matt Bates, March 28, 2016

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
As per the 20th Anniversary Edition, March 26, 2016

Confession: I never played any of the original versions, instead coming on board with the BBC Radio 4 20th Anniversary Edition, which is in many ways kinder to the player; it came complete with the game itself, but also some simple but pleasing graphics, interesting game design notes, and all the Douglas Adams hints. That page is still here, although the game is currently hosted here. (Apparently this is the 30th Anniversary Edition, which is like the old one but with a shinier interface and, erm, the ability to tweet from in-game. Perhaps just as well, if the brush-up allows the game to be around for another ten years.)

Anyhow, it's gloriously implemented and perfectly atmospheric. Definitely worth a try if you're at all a fan of the radio series/books/movie/stageshow/whathaveyou.

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- BeerIF (MA), March 3, 2016

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Frankly, I just used a walkthrough and enjoyed the show, February 3, 2016

Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy is co-written by Douglas Adams, and the strong prose shows this. The game is very imaginative and vibrant.

On the other hand, the puzzles are (I assume) by Steve Meretzky, who is one of my least favorite puzzle writers from Infocom. Sorcerer, though great, was my least favorite Enchanter game, and I get tired of Planetfall early on. So when I started this game, I was scared of any misstep sending me on a wild goose chase into an unsavable state.

So I just used a walkthrough and sailed through the game, enjoying the witty prose. I plan to go back and read more of the room descriptions and the actual guide. I often find that this approach works with very difficult or unfair games, because the second playthrough can be done without a walkthrough, allowing your memory to help you on some puzzles but still having fun with those you forgot.

The game has several puzzles that are frequently referenced in interactive fiction reviews and forums: the Babel-fish puzzle, and the tea. It may be worthwhile to play through with a walkthrough just to see these.

Note that Douglas Adams released this game for free when Activision went a long time without selling it. I don't know the current status of it, but he intended to freely distribute it at least once in the past. It is not available on Lost Treasures of Infocom for iPad, my usual go-to place for Infocom games.

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- Aryore, December 13, 2015

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Read Doulgas Adams' books instead, November 29, 2015

The puzzles are absolutely stupid. There are plenty of more enjoyable games you could play instead of this. People say you should play this for the writing, but I would say you're not really missing much, and you're certainly not spending your free time effectively by trying to figure out these stupid puzzles. If you want to enjoy Douglas Adams' writing, read his books.

You will have to save often and reload often. You might even find yourself in a situation where you have to revert to a save much earlier in the game due to the game becoming unwinnable without you realizing it, causing you to have to play large sections of the game over again. A game designed around saving and reloading is acceptable as long as the interface for performing those actions is fast and makes it easy to see where you're going to end up and makes it easy to restore to specific points. Of course, this game doesn't do anything in that regard. It's up to you to create descriptive file names. Just unnecessary busy work.

The puzzles are just ridiculously bad and unenjoyable. There's so many other games that do puzzles in a much better and more enjoyable way. It would even be possible to maintain Douglas Adams' brand of humor and style without making these puzzles so stupid.

If you seriously want to try to solve this game with a guide, and you persist even after so many saves and reloads and so many hours spent without making progress, you should seriously stop and ask yourself what the hell you are doing with your life. Do you value your time? You only have a short time here on Earth, and maybe you only have a small amount of free time to play games. You should play games that are fun. You are unlikely to have as much fun playing this game as you are many other games. Put this stupid game down and find something more fun.

If you still think you want to play this game, do NOT hesitate to use a guide. I give this two stars only because of the unique style and writing that Douglas Adams brings to this game. It has a few small, funny moments. But, as a game, it's just doesn't provide even a remotely acceptable amount of enjoyment per minute.

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- Trobairitz (USA), October 28, 2015


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