Innocent until Caught Download (1993 Adventure Game)

Innocent until caught is a graphic adventure game with an icon-based point-and-click interface.

Jack T. Ladd is a thief, his hunting-ground is the whole galaxy, and at the moment, he's in big trouble. He's got 20 days to pay his taxes - or else the interstellar tax agency will hunt him down. Termination is a viable punishment for tax offenders in these days, you know. Stranded blank on the barren, run-down planet Tayte, Jack decides that he has to make some cash. Quick.

Innocent until caught is pretty standard in terms of design and interface. Nice ideas include a mini-window at the bottom left of the screen which is alternately a mini-map of the area (showing all exits) and a looking glass for detecting small items. Also, the plot is illustrated by a few rendered sequences, some of the first used in adventure games.

The Tayte System. One of the most deadly places in the known universe, where dangers lurk behind every corner... or behind the nearest meteor. Not a place to be for any sane being, but you are Jack Ladd; the biggest tax deviant alive. You have managed to get away with everything so far, UNTIL the I.R.D.S. (the Interstellar Revenue Decimation Service) decided to hunt you down. They want what you owe them; fines for hundreds of felonies, thousands of misdemeanors, and millions of UNTAXED credits earned. You have 28 days to pay it all back, or they will hunt you down... torture you a bit, sell your internal organs and at last they will kill you. You have to make sure that he will manage to collect the sum in question.

The game feels a lot like Space Quest 6 - Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier. It is hard to say exactly why, but maybe it is the tragic hero, the space adventures and the slum quarters they both feature. As you can see from the screens the game supplies a very good in-game graphic, but a superbly rendered movie graphic! The game interface is also great. If you are familiar with any type of adventure game, you will be able to just jump straight into the action. And if you are not familiar with this genre, the game is an excellent introduction - combining a good written plot, lots of humour, interesting and funny dialoges, superb graphic, nice sound and a very practical scene map. The scene map show you an overview of the current screen with exit spots and so on. A great help for newbie players, but also for veterans.

The game is not well known, but I hope that by putting it on this site it will get the praise it deserves. A strong game for everyone with no downsides.

Another adventure game (yeah, well, so sue me... I happen to love them), and it's a science fiction one too (that's always a good thing, non? ;)

It all starts when Jack T. Ladd gets apprehended by the Taxmen. They want money. Money Jack doesn't have. Or ever will have. When they take him into custody, and search him, they find two wallets. One of his own, and one of someone else, both empty, save a couple of cents. They set an ultimatum; Pay up within [x] time or else. Jack nods, scared as they come, and he is released. The game actually starts when you land on a planet, which Jack seems to have known quite well a long time ago.

The game is a typical point&click adventure. The art is decent, sometimes a bit on the plain side, but that's not too bad, as the story itself is good enough to make up for it all. The inventory system however is nice. It works as a shelve. You can place items anywhere you want them. I'm not going to spoil anything besides the intro (which I already told you), and I'm going to let you play it without too much knowledge :) It's worth it.

Although by no means revolutionary, Innocent Until Caught is a fun, "light" sci-fi romp in the spirit of Rex Nebular that features a creative interface for using and combining items.

You are Jack T. Ladd, an intergalactic thief and womanizer who gets into one misadventure after another in his quest for fame, fortune, and --of course-- woman. The best thing about the game is the many innovative puzzles that have creative yet logical solutions. Using the game's excellent "sandbox" interface that allows you to place object anywhere in your inventory and manipulate them, you must combine a lot of items together to create useful gadgets. The game's mildly raunchy and cheesy dialogues are funny and never overkill, and most characters are memorable. Definitely a must-play for anyone interested in casual sci-fi games that nevertheless offers tremendous play value.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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