Ever have one of those days when everything goes wrong? Perhaps you receive a bill for something you've paid for long ago. Or maybe you get a speeding ticket for going 36 mph in a 35 mph zone. Better yet, suppose you finally get to work only to find out that you have to undergo mandatory drug testing at 10 AM or lise your job. In all these cases, you have to deal with the forces that be - the bureaucracy that designs these rules to make your life harder.
Bureaucracy from Infocom pokes fun at all of the joys of inane bureaucratic processes. Designed by Douglas Adams, author of the popular Hitchhiker's Guide series, Bureaucracy sends the player on a nightmarish quest for sanity in a huge bureaucratic blunder. W.E.B. "Fred" Morgan was brought out of an early retirement to work with Adams on his second venture into interactive fiction.
You begin the game in your new house that you just bought after starting a new job at The Happitec Corporation. Their motto is "we'll bring a smile to your computer." The problem is that smiling is the action lowest on your list of priorities.
You're supposed to travel to Paris for a training seminar this afternoon. But the bank doesn't acknowledge your change-of-address form and the money order that Happitec mailed to you for expenses wound up getting lost in the mail. Also, your new credit card, a new change-of-address form, and checkbook were mailed to your old address and the new owner of your old house returned them to the old branch of your band and the bank doesn't have your new address.
This shouldn't be too much for you to handle. The plane to Paris leaves in seven hours. You think that leaves plenty of time for straightening out the mess, but a llama, one-winged bird, Rambo clone, and strange man who cuts up mail for the stamps never entered into the plans for the day.
In Bureaucracy, you simply have to get the Happitec check, catch a cab to the airport, and enjoy a two-week training program in beautiful Paris. Although the challenge is great, the humorous style in which the game is written and the strong degree of personalization of the game's atmosphere to the player only tend to confirm my commitment to the excellence of this new text adventure.
The inspiration of Adams for Bureaucracy came from his attemp to move from one apartment to another in London withouth a hitch. When he tried to use a credit card, he was told that it was invalid. His bank had invalidated it and sent a new one to his old address, for they had also refused his change-of-address form. For weeks, Adams tried to correct the blunder. Finally, he succeeded - only to get an apology sent to his old address.
Adams' brand of humor has been evident in many places, from his own books and radio serial to Monty Python's Flying Circus and Dr. Who. Now, for the second time, he has brought his anecdotes to the computer gaming world.
Bureaucracy was designed for the 80-column world and works well on the 128. The reason for its adaption to the 80-column screens and computers with large memory capacity is two-fold: Bureaucracy adds a unique element to text adventures that can only be attempted on large-memory micros.
The forms that I referred to are Adams' way of poking fun at all of the ridiculous papers that the bureaucracy would have us fill out. At the very beginning of the game, a warning appears on the screen that tells of the necessity to have a license to operate the software, after which an application form pops up on the screen.
You fill out this form with personal information that is made use of in the game. One of the entries is Prev. Girl/Boy Friend. When I typed in a name, the monitor beeped at me and "NOTE: Now a famous porno star" appeared at the top of the screen. This light-hearted approach to the game on Adams' part is what makes Bureaucracy a success. I could give countless examples.
The address that you enter on the initial form is where you start the game. The town on the form is the town in which you look for your check. This personalization makes Bureaucracy easier to play. More forms are used throughout the game and this method is also used to depicth the computer screen in your house.
As well as having a score with a goal of 21 points, Adams included a blood pressure indicator at the top of the screen. For each annoying circumstance you encounter, your blood pressure rises. If it goes to high, you die and the game is over. By performing simple, non-annoying tasks, the numbers drop to the normal level of 120/80.
Don't let all of the humor elements of the game deceive you into thinking that the quest for freedom from foul-ups is easy - it's not. You may think that the parser will give you information easily, but it sometimes deliberately makes a fool of you. When I typed in EXAMINE KEYBOARD ON COMPUTER, the game responded with "It's just a keyboard. What did you expect? Dancing girls?" This is what you're up against.
Text adventures are well-received in the gaming world because of their ability to allow the gamer to form images in his head of what he thinks is happening. You aren't forced to have to accept a picture as the only possibility. The imagination can run free. Bureaucracy lives up to these standards and stretches your brain power to the limits with the weird situations that happen. How else would a llama farm be two doors away from your house?
Bureaucracy is basically divided into four parts: your town, the airport, on the airplane, and the jungle. Because of the immensity of the game and the large number of tasks ahead of you, map out the game - if not because of my suggestion, for your own sanity. I reiterate Infocom's warning in that you should not even bother mapping out the airport and the numbered rooms in the Zalagasan jungle. If you do, you're missing the true purpose of those places.
Now I have some hints from hindsight, so that you aren't totally helpless in playing Bureaucracy. Don't try to do things that are totally off-center. Pretend that you're really there and do what you would in real life. While in the town, don't waste too much time. You only have a short time to hop on the plane. Save the game often, so that you don't have to return to the beginning when you forget something.
As all of the rest of Infocom games are packaged with gimmicks pertaining to the game, so is Bureaucracy. It comes with a letter from your boss at Happitec, a humorous credit card application form, a skinny pencil, a membership application for Popular Paranoia magazine, and a brochure from Fillmore Fiduciary Trust, your bank. Examine these materials carefully! They will answer a number of questions that you'll be faced with in the game. That's a giveaway hint, by the way.
In the town, examine everything you find carefully. Don't worry about getting on the plane the first few tries. Just search every inch carefully and find the use of all objects, from the hacksaw to the computer cartridges. There are many doors and entryways to places, so examine them all. Don't expect the direct ways to do things to always work. Sometimes, a bell will ring on an easier method - another hint. Talk to all of the characters and listen carefully to all of the messages on your answering machine. It will take a while to get money for the airport cab, but once you do, you'll enter the meat of the game.
Bureaucracy proved its worth countless times in the course of play. In most text adventures, you try to avoid the mistakes. In Bureaucracy, I found myself trying to goof in anticipation of the witty response that would appear. Douglas Adams' humor, combined with Infocom's text adventure format, kept me entertained for many hours with interesting scenarios and the ability to laugh at myself and the world we live in. I never thought that rules could be so much fun.
Thanks to Frank Skagemo for transcribing and donating this article.