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is a text adventure with a complementary graphical user interface. Control is via the keyboard, alternatively, many commands and objects can be selected from a graphical menu with a joystick or a mouse. Moving around is done in the same way - a selection window with cardinal directions is available.
341:, the plot in the style of a detective story of the noir crime genre is set in the USA of the 1930s. The player takes a role of a private detective, Sam Harlow. His ex-wife Rita Sweeney has been kidnapped, and he tries to free her. In the process, he is pursued by gangsters who are after his life.
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in 1981. The parser used by
Interplay was developed by Fargo and a collaborator, and at one stage of development had a dictionary of 250 nouns, 200 verbs, and could evaluate input with prepositions and indirect objects. The same engine had been used in the previous games
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said that the game had "more plot turns and twists than a backwoods mountain road", with "unusually good" writing and graphics "chock full of cute touches". The magazine stated that if the word menus were more complete, "the game would be better than an all-night
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was produced by
Interplay for Activision and was part of a $ 100,000 contract that included a total of three adventure games. Interplay founder Fargo already had experience in the adventure genre: his first game was the adventure
445:"a superbly cinematic graphic adventure" that was too brief and deserved a sequel. A German reviewer recognized the challenging storyline, the detailed graphics and the comfortable gameplay. He gave Borrowed Time 82 out of 100.
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four stars out of five, describing it as "a big step forward in the realm of 'interactive entertainment' ... a tonic to jaded adventurers", and praising the game's graphics, parser, and humor.
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The player must interrogate suspects and collect evidence at the various locations in order to achieve the game goal. Some game actions have a time limit for problem-solving.
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wrote that "Activision has created a delightful game environment with the look and feel of those classic hardboiled detective movies and novels".
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and The Tracer
Sanction. The writing and much of the game design were done by Subway Software, a company founded by game journalist
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game about a detective, who tries to rescue his kidnapped wife. The game was developed by
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630:"Titans of the Computer Gaming World / Part Three of Five: Ardai on Activision"
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McGraw-Hill/Osborne: Emeryville, California, 2004. Page 209. ISBN 0-07-223172-6
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Dunnington, Benn; Brown, Mark R. (December 1985 – January 1986).
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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795:Video games developed in the United States
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
454:
7:
805:Video games set in the United States
667:, Spiele-Sonderheft 11/1986 (german)
470:(letter). p. 58. Archived from
319:republished it as a budget title as
47:adding citations to reliable sources
496:Hines, Tracie Forman (April 1986).
14:
521:Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson:
23:
58:"Borrowed Time" video game
34:needs additional citations for
353:Gameplay screenshot (Atari ST)
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775:Interplay Entertainment games
800:Video games set in the 1930s
715:Interactive Fiction Database
598:Bateman, Selby (May 1986).
559:"Brian Fargo and Interplay"
462:Ryerson, Don (March 1990).
821:
710:Borrowed Time (video game)
537:"if yr cmptr cn rd ths..."
265:Apple II, C64, IBM PC, Mac
785:Single-player video games
730:1980s interactive fiction
641:. No. 38. p. 36
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684:4/1986, p.150f. (german)
540:Computer Entertainment
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790:Subway Software games
770:Detective video games
638:Computer Gaming World
580:. pp. 4–5, 88–93
468:Computer Gaming World
431:Computer Gaming World
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760:Classic Mac OS games
542:: 24. Archived from
535:Shay Addams (1985).
43:improve this article
676:Heinrich Lenhardt:
659:Heinrich Lenhardt:
305:interactive fiction
281:Interactive fiction
780:Mastertronic games
765:Commodore 64 games
628:(June–July 1987).
574:"C-64/128 Gallery"
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390:specifically for
375:The Demon's Forge
311:and published by
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474:on 5 April 2016
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682:Happy Computer
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626:Ardai, Charles
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557:Maher, Jimmy.
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546:on 2016-01-21.
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464:"Time To Buy?"
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32:This article
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606:. p. 60
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582:. Retrieved
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163:Mastertronic
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142:Developer(s)
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99:October 2017
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
745:Amiga games
523:High Score.
478:15 November
422:reading!".
388:Bill Kunkel
365:Development
339:Bill Kunkel
333:Written by
322:Time to Die
228:Platform(s)
222:Greg Miller
200:Ayman Adham
185:Brian Fargo
180:Designer(s)
170:Producer(s)
724:Categories
584:2019-03-19
508:2024-09-04
449:References
384:Mindshadow
335:Arnie Katz
313:Activision
159:Activision
69:newspapers
704:MobyGames
398:Reception
315:in 1985.
309:Interplay
214:Artist(s)
202:Jay Patel
147:Interplay
645:17 April
604:Compute!
425:Compute!
379:Apple II
345:Gameplay
276:Genre(s)
241:Atari ST
237:Apple II
713:in the
610:29 July
441:called
287:Mode(s)
259:Release
83:scholar
407:rated
303:is an
249:IBM PC
85:
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633:(PDF)
502:Ahoy!
435:'
414:Ahoy!
268:1986:
263:1985:
233:Amiga
90:JSTOR
76:books
647:2016
612:2014
578:Info
480:2013
404:Info
337:and
329:Plot
62:news
702:at
253:Mac
45:by
726::
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488:^
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