Articles
 by Jeff Strand August 30, 2002 |
The
Seriously Whacked Point of View “Good by Jeff Strand |
(WARNING: This column
is actually devoted to discussing adventure game puzzles, rather than
the usual nonsense I try to foist upon readers. Next time I’ll try
to return to my complete lack of informational content.)
As a novelist, I guess it’s a bit ironic that I’m not one of those
people who thinks an adventure game has to have a great (or even good)
story to work. Give me puzzles. Lots of ’em. The more convoluted the
better. I even like being stuck for extended rounds of gaming on a
particularly nasty one, although I’m not big on wandering around aimlessly
with no idea what I’m supposed to do next (I do enough of that in
real life).
I particularly like games
with puzzles based on cartoon logic, such as Toonstruck, Sam
& Max Hit the Road, the Monkey Island series, etc.
There are few things in this universe greater than the moment in Curse
of Monkey Island when you get the map tattoo off the guy’s back
by…well, I won’t reveal the solution, but it’s a moment of disgusting
glory that I will cherish for all time.
However, even though I’ll
happily play a game with no real story, the logic of the puzzles is
important. If I need to open a wooden box, and I’m carrying an axe,
there’d better be a reason why I have to find a key instead of just
chopping it up, even if the game just says “Hey, dumbass, you’re
going to lop off a leg if you mess with that.”
So, now I’m going to discuss
some good puzzles and some bad puzzles in terms of logic. Note that
this contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the puzzles discussed, so
beware!
GOOD PUZZLE: Day of
the Tentacle: The tentacle costume puzzle. This is the best puzzle
in a game that features ingenious puzzle construction from beginning
to end. You play characters in the past, present, and future. Your
character in the future needs a tentacle costume, yet there’s none
to be found! Sure, there’s an American flag flying outside the window,
but what good will that do? Well, your character in the past has met
none other than Betsy Ross, who’s hard at work designing that very
flag. By switching her sketch of a flag with a picture of a tentacle,
you change the shape of the American Flag in the future, creating
the necessary costume! Brilliant.
BAD PUZZLE: Amber: Journeys
Beyond: The sliding tile puzzle. Sliding tiles are usually a total
cop-out in the puzzle department, so you have to at least give the
designers credit for a bit of creativity: You’re a ghost trying to
help a woman come to grips with the fact that her husband has died,
so the sliding tile puzzle involves manipulating the torn pieces of
a telegram informing her of his death until it has been reconstructed.
In the logic department, though, this puzzle doesn’t make any sense.
Why do the pieces have to stay in the twelve-square block? Any ghost
worth his lack of weight would know to just push a couple of pieces
off to the side to give him room to manipulate the others!
Worse, though, is the fact
that you only need the center four pieces in the right order
for the message to get across! I got stuck because two blank
pieces in the corners were on the wrong end! Many a rude word left
my lips during this sliding tile experience.
GOOD PUZZLE: Full Throttle:
You’re trying to get through a sliding metal door. You can pull a
long chain and raise the door…but if you let go of the chain, the
door closes before you can get through. The obvious solution is to
tie the chain to something, and I spent LOTS of time trying to figure
out what! The answer, however, is a great example of lateral thinking:
Use a padlock to keep the door down, which also holds the chain in
place, and lets you use it to climb over the wall.
BAD PUZZLE: Monkey Island
2: The monkey wrench puzzle. On its own, this puzzle is actually
pretty clever. You need something to turn off a pump, you’re carrying
a monkey…use the monkey as a wrench! However, even in a ridiculous
game like this one, it doesn’t fit the internal logic. Characters
and objects may follow the rules of a Warner Bros. Cartoon, but until
this point you haven’t solved any puzzles by thinking in puns. This
puzzle would’ve been right at home in the old Infocom game Nord
and Bert Couldn’t Make Heads or Tails of It, but it doesn’t work
here, even if the monkey in your inventory is kind of posed in the
shape of a wrench.
GOOD PUZZLE: Grim Fandango:
The spinning sign puzzle. You’re in a clearing with numerous tunnels
in every direction, and every time you walk through one you come out
of another, with no apparent logic behind it. You have a directional
sign that spins around and points to one of the doors, but that too
doesn’t seem to follow any logic. Which tunnel is the right one? None
of ’em. They’re red herrings. The sign is actually pointing to a spot
in the clearing…another great example of lateral thinking.
BAD PUZZLE: The Longest
Journey: Soda pop explosion. There’s nothing wrong with the end
result of this puzzle…you hand the guard a can of shaken soda, he
opens it, it sprays all over him, and short-circuits his electrified
suit. The problem is that you should be able to solve this puzzle
by…well, shaking the can of soda. But instead you put the soda in
a paint can shaker, and then take it on a subway ride across town
before giving it to the guard. C’mon, I realize that this game takes
place in the future, but where does it say that this is space soda?
If you’ve got a puzzle
that you particularly like or dislike, I’d love to hear about it in
hopes of perhaps padding out a future column. Send your letters to
[email protected].
Jeff Strand’s novels include Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience
Necessary), How to Rescue a Dead Princess, and Mandibles, all of which
are available in various electronic formats at http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/JeffStrandeBooks.htm
