Fallthru
Although this may sound complicated, the game is actually quite easy to learn and play, mainly because it has a much more limited vocabulary than your typical interactive fiction title. The description for each scene is sparse but adequate, and you can perform simple tasks like READ SIGN or TAKE objects but not EXAMINE anything in detail. The game is extremely large - with 1,500+ screens, this might very well be the largest text adventure ever made (in terms of the number of unique locations). You can travel very far without finding anything interesting, but fortunately it is possible to complete the game without exploring the whole gameworld (and solving optional sidequests in between). The game also features other RPG-style elements, such as character stats (you have to make sure your fatique points don't fall too low, for example), and the time of day/night.
Fallthru is quite fun to play. It is obviously more fun if you can get 2 other friends to play with, but it's still fun if you play alone. There are many things to discover (including some nice ASCII artwork), people to talk to, and enemies to fight. The game is definitely meant for very patient gamers only, since you need a lot of patience to carefully map the huge gameworld to keep yourself from getting lost. But if you have both patience and time, Fallthru comes highly recommended.
Note: The game was marketed as shareware, but this freely-distributable version is not crippled in any way - paying $10 registration fee just entitles you to get a "strategy guide" from the author. In 2002, the designer Paul Deal informed one of rec.games.int-fiction newsgroup reader that he has lost this strategy guide. But the good news is that he plans to recreate this guide and release it into the public domain, so hopefully we will be able to add the strategy guide to this download at some point :)
Average Rating: | 8.46 [15 votes] |
Genre: | Interactive Fiction |
Designer: | Paul Deal |
Developer: | Freeware |
Publisher: | Freeware |
Year: | 1989 |
Software Copyright: | Paul Deal |
Theme: | Fantasy, Unique |
Multiplayer: | Turn-based hotseat |
Related Links: | |
More Info: | Mobygames | The Web |
System Requirements: | DOS |
If you like this game, try: | Advanced Xoru, Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor, Zyll |
Thanks to... | |
Technical Notes: |
Screenshots © The Good Old Days