Encounter: The Bookworm

a.k.a. Eamon 188 - Encounter the Bookworm

created and published by EAG in 1990-03, running on Apple II E
type: adventure
perspective: other
player options: single player
game engine: Eamon Engine
languages: eng

Personal review

[The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms]
#188 - Encounter: The Bookworm by Robert Parker


Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski



MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: HINT, XTINGUISH, SUICIDE, EAT Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 6.5 Average Rating: 6.5/4



Description: Hokas takes you to the Eamon Public Library. "Inside the library, you see books thrown about, as if vandals had broken in and ransacked the place. Picking up one of the books, you see a three-inch hole through the center of it. Opening it up, you discover that all of the pages are now completely blank.

"'This is the fifth library to have this happen to it.' Hokas says. 'We have to stop this madman before all of the books are destroyed. Luckily, these books are easy to replace. However, if this had been a library of rare manuscripts...'

"'Who did this?' you say.

"'The Bookworm.' Hokas hisses through clenched teeth. 'I shall never be able to thank you enough if you defeat him. I have found out a bit about him for you. He plays an odd sort of savoir-faire. His hideout, I am told, has many "clues" or "hints" built into it. I do not know any more, so pay close attention to anything and everything.'"



Comment: This is a very decent Eamon, arguably Rob's best work. It doesn't rate higher because it is a bit low on content, but the writing and mapping are excellent, and it has several novel room ideas. I came very close to revising my old rating upwards after replaying it for this review.

One thing that knocks it down a bit is that it has a few minor glitches in presentation. One is a very long special with no screen pauses that occurs at one of the "entrances". The other is that it displays resumed saved games in 80-column mode regardless of the screen setting when it was saved. (If you want or need to use 40-column mode when resuming a saved game, delete line 29065 before beginning the game).

Difficulty will run 3-7 depending on how much you use the HINTS command, which pretty much gives away all of the puzzles if you use it regularly.

SUICIDE is a perfectly useless command that kills you and ends the game. I don't know why Rob thought that was better than simply using Control-C or reset. XTINGUISH is merely a way to snuff your torch without having to drop it (which is the standard Eamon method to put out torches).

Here's a warning of sorts: the can will mess with your character's stats in an amusing way. If you feel strongly about that, don't fool with the can. But if you are using FRESH SAM or don't mind having to "repair" your character, you may get a chuckle out of it.

# 2010-02-25 19:49:58 - source

Technical specs

software: Eamon Engine,
display: text

Authors / Staff

author

Robert Parker (author)

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