Questprobe featuring The Fantastic Four Download (1985 Adventure Game)

The 3rd installment of Questprobe's Marvel Comic book text adventures with graphics. Free Alicia Masters from the evil Doctor Doom by playing the Thing and the Human Torch. You can switch between the 2 characters at any time during gameplay.

Ever wondered what it's like to be a Superhero? Well wonder no more. In this game, you get to be not one, but two Superheroes. Here, you can take control of both The Thing and The Human Torch - switch between them both, and learn how to take advantage of The Thing's strength, as well as Human Torch's flying and fire abilities.

Questprobe Featuring Human Torch & The Thing is the third and final Questprobe adventure game, and features two of the Fantastic Four characters. This time around, Alicia Masters has been kidnapped by the evil Dr Doom, and it's up to Human Torch and The Thing to rescue her. However, poor Thing finds himself in need of some help, as the game begins. He is trapped in a tar pit, and if something is not done soon, he will drown! Human Torch, on the other hand, is free to fly around as much as he wants, but he gets tired quickly when using his flame. Just remember, both characters must work together if they want to free Alicia Masters.

Human Torch & The Thing is a graphics text adventure game created by Scott Adams in 1985. The screen consists of a large picture to show where you are, with some text underneath describing things in more detail. The game uses a text parser to control both character's actions. You must type in short, sometimes complex sentences, such as "Wait 10" (meaning wait for 10 turns) or "Throw Pebble Hard". You can also control the strength of flame that Human Torch uses, by specifying "Low", "High", or "Nova". Different strengths yield different results. The action you will probably need the most is "Switch", which allows you to switch between characters. The game also understands commands like N, S, E, W, Examine, Look, Look Under, Talk, Inv, etc. If you don't seem to be getting anywhere, try re-phrasing the command. However, being a Scott Adams adventure, the game is full of tricky puzzles, which will really get your brain working.

When you first start the game, you are given the option of playing the game with graphics or without graphics. After that, the game starts properly. This game differs slightly from the previous Questprobe games. For a start, there are no gems to find, which means there is no SCORE to keep track off. As well as that, in the previous games when you die, you are taken to a high-gravity area before returning to an earlier screen in the game. This time when you die, it really is Game Over, so I recommend you SAVE GAME often. Human Torch & The Thing has 4 game slots (A, B, C, D), which can be overwritten as many times as you wish.

Graphics in this game are in the same style as the previous Questprobe games (The Hulk and Spider-Man), and use strong, rich colours. The game sometimes splits the screen up into three sections, showing three different views in the same area. My favourite scenes were the circus tent, the village of Latveria, and Dr Doom's tent. Your inventory is shown as words across the bottom of the screen. Just type I (i) to see what items you are carrying.

There is very little sound in this game - just a **BEEP** when you execute a command. This is quite poor, even for a 1985 game. Still, you can always put on a cd, and listen to that as you play.

Questprobe Featuring Human Torch & The Thing is a good old fashioned text adventure. It was created by Scott Adams in 1985, and being a Scott Adams game, it is full to the brim of notoriously tricky puzzles. I like how you have to switch between characters, and use the skills of both of them in order to progress. You get to experiment with the superpowers, and use them to your advantage. The text parser can understand fairly complex sentences. You must specify where to throw things (and how hard to throw things), how long to wait, strength of Human Torch's flame, etc. This can be a little frustrating at times, as you struggle to find the correct words, but at the same time, it just adds to the challenge. The graphics are rich and vibrant. All in all, a good old-fashioned text adventure, well worth a try.

Fantastic Four is, thank goodness, the last and best (in a relative sense) game in the short-lived Questprobe series which was a collaboration between Adventure International and Marvel Comics. This time, you control the entire Fantastic Four team, each of whom has unique special powers. The game engine was expanded to handle 2 protagonists at a time, and the parser is much improved, although it is still the standard verb-noun engine. Most puzzles require figuring out which superpower is appropriate in the situation, and collaboration among the team members. Insipid find-item-X-to-give-to-Y-to-get-item-Z puzzles still abound, but there is a lot less of them than in The Hulk and Spider-Man, the first 2 games in the series.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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