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DELRON
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X-Trek-TNG Night with
Counselor Troi
Reviews
Author:
Badman
Date: 1991
AGT
What does AIF stand for? Adult Interactive Fiction.
If you likely to
be offended by games with sexual content, you are advised not
to open these
files.
Reviewed by
Kastier
Plot synopsis:
As a new officer on board the Starship Enterprise (of Star
Trek: The Next Generation fame), you've been trying to get Counselor Deanna Troi
in bed with
you for months. Tonight, after a few drink in 10-Forward, she has
invited you into her quarters. It's pretty obvious that she's willing. Now it's
up to you
to make it happen.
Writing + Plot:
By and large, Star
Trek AIF games usually have very little plot, and a singular goal of repeatedly
getting lucky with various good-looking female Star Trek characters.
A
Night with Troi is no different than the others, with the exception that in this
case, there's almost nothing in the way of puzzles. It's intended purely as a
sexual romp with Troi, providing in text what previously had required extremely
active imaginations.
You're not going to get a masterpiece here, but the
text of the game is mostly decently written, with few spelling or grammatical
mistakes. That's notable because many older AIF games have mistakes all over the
place. It's clear that Badman put effort in proofreading before releasing this.
That said, the sex scenes in ANWT are not the most erotic in the world. In fact,
they read more like a raunchy Penthouse story than anything else. Some of the
wording of the individual sex acts leaves a little to be desired and is hardly
erotic. Here's an example:
"Deanna spreads her legs, and motions for you
to get your naked ass over to that couch in a hurry. You climb onto her, and her
nimble fingers lead you to her gate. You whack it balls deep inside her, and her
fingernails dig into your back."
Naturally, with descriptions like this,
you almost get the sense that Badman was satirizing the whole concept of the
game he was creating, or perhaps the idea of Deanna Troi as sex goddess.
Outside of the sex acts, the game is very sparse. There's little in the way of
objects in the game, and those few objects there are have tiny descriptions that
barely give any details about them. That includes the game's main sex object,
Deanna Troi. An example from a description of her butt:
"Counselor Troi's
butt is nicely shaped and offers a good place to hold on to as well."
Enough said.
Score: 6
Technical (design + programming):
Technically, ANWT has few bugs. The only one I found had to do with "put Troi on
counter." After she's on it, how do you get her back off?
This bug aside,
ANWT seems to be, on the whole, fairly cleanly programmed with a few interesting
innovations.
Badman programmed the game to have a number of permutations
of sex acts, based on where you are, how Troi is positioned, whether or not you
or she are clothed, etc. This added innovation gives the game a lot more depth
and entertainment value than it would otherwise because the player has incentive
to try out as many positions and states of disrobement as possible to see all
the scenes.
ANWT would get a high score technically if it weren't for the
parser. Since I'm not an AGT guru, I can't say how much of the parser issues
were related to AGT itself and how many were just poor programming. I'm inclined
to think it's mostly the later. Guessing the verb usually is, and there's a
little of that here.
But guessing the verb is only half the issue. The
big issue is all the unique verbs that the game insists you use to do things
that you'd normally do by typing, "f*** ass" or "f*** breasts" or "lick pu**y."
These are all possibilities that could have been used instead of "buttfuck" or
"give head to Troi." Later AGT games by Newkid didn't have the weird verb use
requirements that this game displays, so I know it's possible.
Granted,
Badman warns the player in the game instructions that these special words are
needed, but it's hard to remember them all, its tedious, and other options would
have worked just as well. (The shower comes to mind. Why not just have a button
to turn on the shower?)
The parser issues will seem minor to some, but
for me it serves as a huge distraction from the game.
Score: 4
Entertainment Factor:
A Night with Troi is only moderately entertaining. The
sex scenes are mildly if a bit hokey and written a little more roughly than I'd
suggest for most games. If it were for the writing alone, the game would get a
higher score in the entertainment category.
The parser issues take a lot
out of it. Having to type and retype commands over and over when the game
doesn't recognize them is frustrating and annoying. It helps to kill the fun of
it.
Now, it might not be entirely fair to indite a 13 year old game for
problems with an aged parser, but to the modern player, this does remain a major
issue. Furthermore, ANWT's parser issues are not the fault of AGT, but the
programmer's lack of imagination in implementing. Today's players are used to
better parsers, and it's going to affect their enjoyment as much as it did mine.
Score: 4
-----------------------------------------------
The Last
Word:
Although my review gives it low marks, A Night with Troi is notable
because it became one of the best known AIF games in the early 90's, and
perhaps, was one of the keynote games that helped spark initial life into the
now thriving Adult Interactive Community.
Also notable is the fact that
this game's premise and concept was so popular that it sparked at least 4
similar "A Night With" games, all based on Star Trek characters.
In the
end, ANWT shows it age, but is worth recognition because it helped to create a
genre of IF that now stands at over 100 games.
Kastier's ranking: 4.6 out
of 10
Reviews should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors.
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