Mindshadow

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 1985
• Genre: Adventure
• Style: Text-Based Adventure
• Similar Games: Amnesia (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

Developed by Interplay and published by Activision, Mindshadow continues the tradition of text-based adventure games that rely on parser technology.

You wake up and find yourself on a beach. You don't recognize the location, remember anything about it or even how you got here. And, to make matters worse, you have no recollection of your own identity! As you explore the unfamiliar surroundings and try to recover your lost memories, a mysterious condor comes to your aid.

This is the world of Mindshadow, a text-based adventure game enhanced by graphics. The game screen is divided into two sections with the graphics displayed at the top and the text descriptions at the bottom. Starting on a deserted island, you eventually make your way through the streets of London and Luxembourg as you try to figure out your identity.

Mindshadow has two unique characteristics. The first is the "think" command that allows you to ponder certain keywords in an attempt to uncover fragments of your lost memory. The second is the use of key macros. The function keys are tied to certain frequently used commands like "get" or "talk to" and pressing the appropriate key will type the entire command.

Are you in the mood for a mystery? If so, delve into your mind's shadows and run to ground your identity and learn the reasons behind your amnesia!

Roots & Influences

Mindshadow is one of the first PC text-based adventure games to incorporate graphics.

Review: Overall

Even though the game has graphics, Mindshadow is still a text-based adventure. And, as such, its second rate parser really hurts it in terms of playability.

During the tutorial sequence, Mindshadow boasts about its powerful and versatile parser that allows you to use complete and complex sentences. The way it's portrayed you would almost think Mindshadow could telepathically read your mind and discern what you want to do. In reality, that's not how it works.

The game routinely lets you know that it doesn't understand the word you've used or it doesn't know what you mean. Instead of using complex sentences, you very quickly find yourself reduced to the most basic verb-noun pairings like "talk doctor" or "look map." The game even makes basic English mistakes when responding to you; try to "sit down" and Mindshadow tells you that "You can't sit the down."

Other text-based adventure games have had similarly limited parsers while still managing to be enjoyable, so it's not a problem that can't be overcome. At times, Mindshadow compounds the frustration by relying entirely on its graphics instead of using them as a supplement to the textual descriptions.

Sometimes you have to interact with items or objects in a scene that aren't mentioned in the text; you only know they exist by the graphics. In a game with good graphics, this isn't a problem; Mindshadow, though, doesn't have that luxury. Instead, you have to deal with rudimentary and poorly drawn CGA graphics and have to guess what some objects are since they're not drawn well enough to be recognizable.

The game also has individual object pictures for items you can pick up. In the first screen, for example, you see a shell in the middle of a beach and, when you pick it up, its picture disappears from the graphical display of the beach. Unfortunately, there's an unexpected side effect -- when you drop all your items in one screen, the icons clutter up the whole display, making for an incomprehensibly ugly picture.

Mindshadow does have some good points. As an amnesiac trying to regain your identity, you must gather clues and, at the same time, think about certain keywords to regain your lost memories. This is a decent idea that is, unfortunately, only partially taken advantage of in Mindshadow.

Another good idea that Mindshadow tries to implement is the use of macros. By pressing the function keys, you can call up frequently used commands like "get" or "talk to." This saves a lot of typing time for slower typists and is a concept that all text-adventure games should incorporate.

Mindshadow is basically a second-rate Amnesia with weaker graphics. It has its moments but, unless you're a diehard fan of the genre, you won't get much enjoyment out of the game.

Review: Enjoyment

The puzzles are fairly logical but the text parser is somewhat limited and the game is too short to really get into. Some of the puzzles are also a little unfair, such as a cave where you have to dig despite the fact there are no clues indicating this is the action needed.

Review: Graphics

The graphics are ugly. The poorly drawn scenes actually interfere with gameplay, as you have to guess at some unidentifiable objects that appear on screen.

Review: Sound

None.

Review: Replay Value

There's no reason to play the game again since the puzzles don't change and nothing would change from the first time through.

Review: Documentation

Average documentation but the game features a helpful built-in hint system.