Hugo 3: Jungle of Doom Impressions

[Mike]

#5101

Here’s the thread for Hugo 3. This thread will contain spoilers so avoid it for now if you haven’t played the game yet and don’t want anything spoiled.

Just completed it and it’s just kinda whatever I guess? It’s probably the best designed one out of the three since it has the least amount of dead ends but it’s also pretty boring after how weird 1 and 2 were.

I was also shocked at how short it was. Granted, I was pretty casual about using a walkthrough after the weirdness of 2, but for the most part it wasn’t nearly as hard and I only missed things when I didn’t look behind locations, not typing in the right thing, and I couldn’t find the spell book in all of that jungle looking the same.

I noticed the art is better in this game than the other 2. It sounds like he brought in someone else to help with art and it shows. Unlike the previous games, it doesn’t feel like it has random clip art inserted into scenes.

What a bizarre trilogy of games

[Pix]

#5118

This was definitely an improvement after part 2. Whoever did the art did a good job, the backgrounds were probably better than a lot of professional studios managed out of EGA. They’d all moved onto VGA of course by the time this came out.

The puzzle design was better as well, if seriously obtuse at times. Having to type “look behind” in a game where you can walk behind whatever it is and type look is nuts. I’ve seen just as bad in Sierra games though – i.e. the bridle in Kings Quest 4. The bit that had me stuck was figuring out to make a voodoo doll out of clay when trapped in the cage. Puzzles like that would be easier if I trusted the game not to have put me in a dead end.

It’s definitely an odd series that I struggle to see the love for. There are tons of obscure adventure games from this period and pretty much all of them are better than this, just by virtue of being done by a professional team. There is a quirky charm to Hugo but you clearly had to be there at the time.

[TigerQuoll]

#5121

Out of the three games this is probably the one I had played the least when I was young. I probably only beat it once or twice before today.
The only puzzle that stumped me was finding the book. The game explicitly told me off for looking at trees and plants, but then this critical item is just hidden in a random piece of shrubbery!

Anyway, I would have to say it’s my least favourite of the three. The graphics may be better, but it lost some of its charm. Despite being set in such an exotic location, it has a lot less of the quirky, weird, unexpected and baffling elements that to me define the series.
It also strays a little too close to uncomfortably racist at times. (“Ullu wulla jumba”? Ugh…)

As for why this series is so beloved, I think it’s a combination of a few things, and it largely comes down to just how accessible the games are.
The games are short, (relatively) easy, and the shareware versions are basically complete. They are also full of very memorable and unique locations and set pieces. (Both for good and bad reasons. All publicity is good publicity!)
They were also very widely distributed – partly for the reasons above, but also because you can fit two of them on a single floppy if zipped.

[Mr Creosote]

#5197

I actually liked that this game tried to give some hints here and there. Not exactly subtle when standing at the foot of the waterfall to tell me I should try blocking the water off somehow on top, but it certainly did its job. I also didn’t mind looking behind the boulder, as this was also clearly hinted at with the scroll. The only really inane part this time around was finding the spellbook. Made worse by the fact that this “evil spirit” was unnecessary to begin with.

Oh well… forgettable game. It’s blissfully unoffensive, especially compared to the second, but also has little going for it. It’s sort of solid, but that’s about it.