Hunt the Wumpus

The Good
Hunt the Wumpus is a text-based adventure game created by Gregory Yob in the early Seventies, in which the player hunts the most dangerous creature ever to take refuge in a cave system. They would move through the caves and take heed the warnings the game gave regarding hazards such as bats, pits, and the Wumpus itself. Since Yob’s creation, several versions of the game were released that improved on the original; some of these included additional hazards and cave layouts. The more advanced version of the game, however, came out for the TI-99/4A computer, made by Texas Instruments and released in 1980.

Instead of answering multiple-choice questions that ask you which cave you want to go into, you move your hunter by using the arrow keys, mapped to the E, S, D, and X keys. As you do, the network of caves is eventually revealed. Although you don’t know where the Wumpus actually is, there are clues to his whereabouts. If you know what cave he is hiding in, you can press the Q key. Your hunter will turn blue, and you can press an arrow key to fire in that direction, or cancel your shot if you change your mind. There are two other hazards to worry about. The most deadly one are the pits that reside in some caves. The bat will take you to somewhere else if you disturb his sleep twice. The game ends if you fall into a pit or get eaten by a Wumpus.

When the game is over, a tally board is displayed showing you how many kills you made, the number of times you were eaten, and how many times you fell into a pit. Below the tally board are options that let you view the whole cave network, revealing the location of the Wumpus, bats, and pits; replay the game with the same settings; start again with different settings; or end it.

There are three difficulty settings (Easy, Hard, and Pro), with the Hard and Pro difficulties having a different network with more passages and less caves. Several variations of the game are also included. In “Blindfold”, the map will only display one cave or passage at a time, making it easy for you to forget where everything is. In “Express”, you can only venture through random caves. “Blindfold & Express” is a combination of the two, and it is considered the difficult variation.

The 17-page manual caters for both TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A computers. The keys you need to use are similar to both computers, except the ones used for canceling your shot and returning to the title screen. It also goes into detail how to play the game, as well as the dangers and variations. I think the front cover is well done, depicting a creature that looks more dangerous than the one in the game.

Hunt the Wumpus for the TI-99/4A excels in the graphic department. The caves are color-coded to indicate the dangers lurking inside them. (Green outlines indicates pits, while caves with red dots inside them means a Wumpus is nearby.) As a result, the map can be quite colorful depending on whether you survive without being eaten. The game also boasts great animations, with my favorite being the arrow moving across the screen. You get to see both of these animations as soon as the game begins. Although the music is not original, I don’t think I care about this as it is a thing with most early ‘80s games that I reviewed recently.

The Bad
In much earlier games of its kind, you are supplied with three arrows; if you miss once, you have two more tries. Not so with the TI-99/4A version.

The Bottom Line
Out of all the Wumpus games I played so far, the TI-99/4A version is my favorite. It boasts colorful graphics and great animations. It can be replayed so many times due to the number of variations it has to offer. The manual is also excellent and worth a read at least one. If you own TI’s machine, then this deserves to be in your collection.