In Hollywood Hijinx, your Uncle Buddy was the king of exploitative, cheap, second-grade films, otherwise known as B-movies. He died of a heart attack while screening his last work, "A Corpse Line." That was many years ago. Now your Aunt Hildegarde has died unexpectedly, rocking the gossip columns as to who will inherit the Burbank estate. After a quickly arranged funeral, an attorney explains the situation.
It seems as if Aunt Hildegarde and Uncle Buddy have decided to turn over their estate on beautiful Malibu beach to you. The attorney hands you Aunt Hildegarde's will, a picture of Uncle Buddy with a handwritten poem on the back, and a flashlight. All this attests to the fact that you were the favorite of their nieces and nephews who spent summers at Hildebud (the estate) and that you must earn your inheritance. The way you accomplish this is by finding ten treasures from Buddy Burbank's movies in exactly 12 hours. The lawyer informs you that you must find the treasures and meet him in the livingroom with them by 9 AM the next morning.
The game at first seems pretty easy, with all of these treasures just lying there waiting to be found. But don't be misled. Hollywood Hijinx is in the Infocom mystery category and should be treated with care. You will not find the ten treasures by simply tearing apar the house. As Aunt Hildegarde's will states: "So, although we both think you are clever enough to manage everything wisely, we need to make sure." So don't feel discouraged if you can't find a treasure immediately - it takes time. You probably won't claim any treasures until about midnight the first time you play.
Hollywood Hijinx truly tests your perception and attention to detail. Only with these qualities would you manage to notice the sicly rose bush that you got sick on after smoking one of Uncle Buddy's smelly cigars. Along those same line, don't think that the treasures will fall into your hands. Just type in this command when you enter the foyer and see what happens: Up. Now you know what you're up against.
The best thing about Infocom and interactive fiction is that you can type anything you want as a command and, for the most part, the game will respond to your action. Text adventures thrive on the commands you type. It's just you and your keyboard against the computer and the world on your floppy disk. So use it to your advantage. The game only unfolds when you type commands. Infocom's language parser is one of the best on the market. With commands such as again (repeats action) and verbose (gives a full description of the location you have just entered), Infocom games turn into a customized environment, enabling the player to journey through the game in the way that feels cofortable.
One unique element of the game is the ability to obtain a printout of your entire game session. This is accomplished via the SCRIPT and UNSCRIPT commands. With this printout in hand, you can avoid wasting valuable game time and examine locations again by just paging through the script to your game session. This feature is especially helpful in Hollywood Hijinx in that a map is printed onto the screen to help you through the Hedge Maze.
It's these little touches that make Infocom and Hollywood Hijinx a good investment for the software dollar. I played it for ten hours before even getting close to the finish. That doesn't include the three hours spent on mapping out the Hedge Maze myself. This Maze bit is the only complaint I have about the game. The maze that I traced was on a graph paper. The maze that Infocom produced was made in a haphazard fashion. The direction descriptions in the game say things like 10 feet west and 70 feet north. So, I took each block on the graph paper as 10 feet and drew the maze from there.
Still i stand by Hollywood Hijinx. It is an excellent adventure and contains many references to Hollywood stars and movie moguls, such as Johnny Carson, Morgan Fairchild and Roger Corman. Hildebud is a wacky shack of tricks and hidden passages, not unlike a fun house. You have your work cut out for you. The scenery and descriptions of the house and grounds are full of explicit detail that cannot go unnoticed. Many of the locations around the mansion show evidence of you and your cousin's exploits at the house when you were young. This is suspicious, because you sometimes hear footsteps and things thudding on floors; you assume that you are the only person in the house. Could it be Cousin Herman? He never liked you anyway, and you always got him in trouble.
For you true Infocom fans (like myself), Hollywoood Hijinx has many tricks that will leave you laughing. For instance, if you try to move the Persian rug in the living room, the game will respond with "You move the rug but don't find any trap door. Amidst your sorrow, you return the carpet to its original splendor." This is a throwback for all those who found a trap door under the rug as in >Zork.
Now, finally, some meaty hints for you cheaters who look to game reviews for the way out of a sticky situation. I am no better myself. The difference is that I had to call Infocom to get a major hint that sent me on to a tidal wave of information. As told to me by the people at Infocom, the first hint should be pointed out to potential gamers because it is the major stumbling block with Hollywood Hijinx. So here goes.
All Infocom games come with product-related toys to either help the gamer or make the package more interesting. Hollywood Hijinx comes with a copy of Aunt Hildegarde's will, a copy of Tinsel Town magazine, the photo and poem of Buddy Burbank, and a lucky palm tree swizzle stick. The key to getting in the front door to the house involves the poem. Examine carefully the statue of Buck Palace outside Hildebud and examine the words of the poem. Together, you will have the answer to getting into Hildebud.
It is up to you whether you map out the Hedge Maze. I would strongly suggest mapping out every area you enter and writing down the objects included there. The house is notorious for sending you on wild goose chases.
Save the game frequently. There is one time in particular that you cannot reverse your actions. It involves going down the stairs at the Top Landing. Make sure you save the game then. You'll see why. Above all, be careful in places in which you are unfamiliar with the surroundings.
Finally, some quick tips for the gamer on the move. Examine the piano and fireplace carefully. Also, watch your step on the stairs. Experiment with the buttons on the dome in the Game Room and always check your mail. That should be enough to keep you going. These few will open up many doors for you and will take you towards earning your rightful inheritance.
Thanks to Frank Skagemo for transcribing and donating this article.