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Overview

Mission Asteroid is a classic adventure game developed by On-Line Systems and released in 1983. It is part of the Hi-Res Adventure series, serving as a prequel (indicated by its designation #0) to the more complex adventures released by the company. While it doesn’t stand out as a pivotal title in gaming history, it holds a certain charm due to its simplistic yet engaging gameplay that appealed to audiences of the early 1980s.

Game Mechanics

The game is played from a first-person perspective, presenting players with a series of text-based commands to navigate the game’s world. Players are tasked with a mission to prevent an asteroid from striking Earth. This involves exploring environments, solving puzzles, and collecting items necessary to complete the mission.

Historical Context

The game was developed during a time when adventure games were transitioning from pure text input to incorporating graphical elements. Although the graphics are simple by today’s standards, they were quite innovative for the time, utilizing high-resolution monochrome visuals. This blend of graphics and text was a hallmark of On-Line Systems’ approach, paving the way for future interactive adventures by laying down foundational mechanics.

Development Notes

Published by Ken and Roberta Williams’ company, On-Line Systems, which later became Sierra On-Line, the game was developed to attract new players to the adventure genre by providing an introductory experience. This intention influenced both its level of difficulty and its position as #0 in the series.

Legacy

Though not as renowned as later games in the Hi-Res Adventure series, Mission Asteroid played a role in establishing the text-adventure format supplemented by visual aids. It introduced many players to this style of gaming and can be considered a stepping stone towards more elaborate storytelling in video games. It highlights a key period in gaming history when narrative and interactive elements began to intertwine more deeply.

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