Crap Games #14

Rigel's Revenge (1987)
By: Smart Egg Software / Mastertronic Genre: Text Adventure Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: ZX Spectrum First Day Score: 16/50
Also Available For: Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64

Unlike most of the games so far in this feature, I never saw Rigel's Revenge getting slated in reviews of the day. I don't remember even seeing any coverage of it at all, in fact, and I found out many years later that it was actually very well received, so why is it here? Well, that's entirely down to me and my good friend Luke, I'm afraid. It was a cheapie budget release which we both had for our respective 8-bit micros (Speccy for me, CPC for him) and we both hated it. I'm not even sure why if I'm honest, but I recall Luke once angrily refusing to even acknowledge it as a legitimate computer game! With advancing years comes a more mature and rational mindset, however (in theory, at least), not to mention an enthusiastic appreciation of the 80s and the games released during that glorious decade, so after recently remembering this game randomly, I decided to give it another try to see if it really has sucked all these years, or if Luke and I were just idiotic youths without any taste.

One of the reasons for our disdain may have been the game's genre which is of a type neither of us had played before and had never really had much interest in either - a text adventure. It was written using The Quill, a commercially released software package for creating text adventures released a few years previous, but it features a decent backstory to get you into things. You play as Harper, one of two investigative journalists in the 23rd century who have been sent to the planet Rigel V which is in a state of war, to investigate reports that the Rigellians have a Doomsday Device that they are prepared to deploy if the tide turns against them. The other journalist is Elliot who was smuggled in as a Rigellian trooper. He claims to have confirmed the existence of a Doomsday Device but is found by Harper dying at the start of the game. It's your job to continue his work and foil the Rigellians plan. Unsurprisingly, this involves entering basic commands in order to progress.

As is usually the case with this type of game, determining which words/phrases it even recognises can be half the struggle, assuming the instructions or game itself don't give any indication (which this one doesn't). Some are pretty obvious (compass directions, for example), others are less so. Each move is met with another description from Harper which should provide you with enough info to make your next move. Like some examples of other genres, this can all require a bit of trial and error, as you can see from the screenshot below this one (oof!). I'm sure I'm just telling most of you what you already know - if you're reading this page, there's a good chance you've played at least one text adventure before - but this was all pretty new to me, even if it was more or less what I was expecting. That's not to say I still think it's a steaming pile of rhino excrement, of course - I'm not even sure why I didn't at least give it a chance in its day but, after spending some time with it now, I think I'd have enjoyed it.

After all, sci-fi was and remains a firm interest of mine, for one thing, and this game is basically an interactive sci-fi story. There aren't really any graphics in the game to speak of - the best you can hope for is different coloured text now and then, and there is no music and barely any sound effects which I guess isn't a surprise. Some good audio might've helped build the atmosphere but it's pretty good in that regard anyway. The writing is of a decent standard and includes some humour sprinkled amidst the reasonably engaging story, and the commands are pretty logical for the most part too. It's not always obvious what you have to do, or even what you can do (I did have to consult a guide at one point!), but I made some progress, even if I did have to restart several times. It's not a game I was bowled over by, and I would be yearning for actual graphics after a while, but considering its price, Rigel's Revenge would've made for an enjoyable change of pace every now and then if I'd given it a chance.

RKS Score: 7/10

Gameplay Video: here's a video of the whole game being played through (once) by one of the talented fellows at RZX Archives (check out their great channel here). Oh, and don't watch if you want to avoid spoilers!