Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It

Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
Developer(s) Infocom
Publisher(s) Infocom
Designer(s) Jeff O'Neill
Engine ZIL
Platform(s) Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Macintosh
Release date(s) July 22, 1987
Genre(s) Interactive fiction
Mode(s) Single player

Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It is an interactive fiction computer game written by Jeff O'Neill and published by Infocom in 1987. It was released simultaneously for several popular computer platforms of the time, such as the PC and Commodore 64. Nord and Bert was unique among Infocom games in that it was highly surrealistic, centering on word play and puns. It is Infocom's twenty-seventh game.

Plot

Nord and Bert defies easy description, and in fact almost seems to have been created in an effort to be as strange as possible. For example, the title and front box illustration (two farmers staring at an animal that consists of two cows' rear halves fused together) have nothing to do with the game. Rather, Nord and Bert revolves around several different kinds of wordplay, with a "chapter" of the game dedicated to each style. The first seven chapters can be played in any order, since each exists as an independent "short story" unrelated to the other chapters; to begin the eighth, however, the player must provide seven "passwords" provided by completing each of the other sections.

The only effort made to interlink the separate parts of the game is as follows: reality has somehow been altered around the town of Punster. Idioms and clichés are suddenly manifesting themselves quite literally, and it falls to the player, as it always does, to sort things out.

The sections of the game:

Feelies

For years, each game released by Infocom contained feelies, or extra objects, in its packaging. The only "feelie" included with Nord and Bert was Home on the Range, a booklet of wordplay-themed cartoons drawn by Kevin Pope (who also illustrated the front and back of the game package). The cartoons generally illustrate several of the types of puzzles in the game, such as "All Alone on a Desserted Isle", which shows a castaway sitting on a tiny island (complete with requisite palm tree) surrounded by pies, cakes, and ice cream. Each cartoon corresponds to a section of the game.

Notes

By the time Nord and Bert was released, Infocom had abandoned their habit of printing games' difficulty level on the external package. Fan opinion of the difficulty level of Nord and Bert ranges from "Standard" to "Expert", depending largely on the player's penchant for wordplay. Since Nord and Bert makes extensive use of English-language puns, clichés and idioms as plot points, the game can be extremely difficult for non-native English speakers to complete without assistance.

In an effort to simplify the "menial tasks" of interactive fiction, the classic "compass point"-style exits were rarely used and mapping was unnecessary. Available exits were displayed at the top of the screen, and once a location had been visited it could be revisited (as long as it was reachable) by simply typing its name. Nord and Bert also featured hints available with the HINT command.

This was one of Infocom's most unusual releases. Published in their waning days of financial difficulty and pressure from parent company Activision, Nord and Bert proved quite difficult to market; its apparent target audience of wordplay enthusiasts was quite small, and uneven gameplay doomed the title to sell very poorly.

Appropriately enough, Wordplay was the working title of this game.

Reception

Computer Gaming World's reviewer did not enjoy Nord and Bert as much as the "more complete" previous Infocom games, stating that the game often did not accept seemingly valid word play responses. He suggested that the game might be used to teach word play to students.[1] Compute! more favorably reviewed the game, praising its humor, the puzzles' creativity, and the fact that individual games could be finished in a brief period.[2] Compute!'s Gazette also liked the wordplay, stated that the game "should appeal to most everyone", and especially recommended it to those who avoided other text adventures.[3]

References

  1. Wagner, Roy (November 1987). "Eight Tales of New Cryptics / Infocom's New "Liebrary" of Short Stories". Computer Gaming World. p. 52.
  2. Trunzo, James V. (January 1988). "Plundered Hearts And Nord And Bert Couldn't Make Head Or Tail Of It". Compute!. p. 44. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  3. Bobo, Ervin (January 1988). "Nord And Bert Couldn't Make Head Or Tail Of It". Compute!'s Gazette. p. 40. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
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