Fahrenheit 451 (video game)

Fahrenheit 451 is a computer game of the U.S. company Telarium (formerly Trillum ) from the year 1984, it belongs to the genre of the text adventure with graphics ( Interactive Fiction with Graphics) and builds on the novel Fahrenheit 451 the author Ray Bradbury. .

Action

The sci-fi adventure sets a vision for the future are based, in the possession and reading books are banned in the State. Time plays the adventure five years after the end of the novel. The player is the fireman Guy Montag. In his previous life he had the task of burning books (at a temperature of 451 degrees Fahrenheit paper begins loudly Bradbury, but not in reality, of course fire). At the beginning of the game, Monday has already chosen a new path: he is now operating in the underground and tries to save microfilming of books, which are stored in the New York Public Library and destined for destruction. Monday is a persecuted enemy of the state, the hide and has to change his identity, not from the " Fire Brigade " - to be killed or mechanical dogs - a state police force. An important role in classical literature quotes that learns Monday in the course of the game and give him the help of other resistance fighters. Among the minor characters of the game Clarissa, a young woman who acts like Monday in the underground part.

Gameplay

The game is controlled via the keyboard. Here, the game commands input, for example, "take" for receiving an object, a text parser. Navigation between the action scenes takes place on the indication of directions ("N" for "North ", "S " for "South ", etc.). Some actions in the game is a time limit.

Development and production details

The game has a two-dimensional graphics, a theme song and sound effects. It was implemented for the platforms C 64, DOS, Atari ST, MSX2, Mac OS and Apple II. The MSX2 version is a translation into Spanish and equipped with new illustrations. The adventure builds on characters and plot of the novel Fahrenheit 451 ( Publisher Ballantine Books, 1953), the author Ray Bradbury and was even with developed under the auspices of Byron Preiss Byron Preiss and his company Video Productions of Bradbury. Especially for the computer game Bradbury wrote this an introductory history. After the descriptions of Preiss collaboration with Bradbury went well. The author of numerous science fiction novels showed up at the new design options for the Adventure- development interests ( " He brings the enthusiasm of a young boy - unbelievable, unbounded enthusiasm for something new ").

Reception

In the 1980s, the complex plot, the number of people that interact with the player character, and the large number of scenes of action were highlighted in the review of a German computer magazine next to the picture. An American reviewer emphasized the challenging lyrics ( "gripping prose" ) and the special handling of game developers in the use of literary quotations to achieve the game objective ( "unique approach of Obtaining and using literary quotations. ").

A study on computer game history and theory of 1993 praised the game Fahrenheit 451 as " highly complex, interactive computer fairy tale" .. The Adventure is " quasi Literature, a game with classics and at the same time with the narrator, the players themselves ." In a study from 2005, Fahrenheit is placed in a series with other Adventures of the company Telarium 451, which stressed the proximity to the literature and in which the narrative element was the focus.