Review 1: In my opinion the best parody game ever made, Bureaucracy is a hilarious game written by Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy creator Douglas Adams. The plot is simple enough: you have just moved to a new town and must get your bank to acknowledge your change of address form before embarking on your all-expense paid trip to Paris. That the game is something special is obvious when you open the box-- freebies, which are Infocom's hallmark, are among the best you'll ever see: everything from the Popular Paranoia magazine to four copies of Beezer Card application will make you laugh out loud even before you install the game. Once you do, you'll be treated to a rollercoaster ride of a plot that contains more twists and turns than Adams' zany novels, seeing your on-screen alter ego suffer Bureaucratic mishaps that range from missed flight connections to surly waitresses. The puzzles are as difficult as any other Infocom game (it was written by the same guy who invented the Babel Fish puzzle, after all), but they do follow some logic no matter how twisted it may be (how you dispose of the stew on the airplane is one good example). There are many well-developed characters who represent some of the most annoying people you meet in real-life, from the delivery man to Random Q. Hacker. Bureaucracy, quite rightly, has become the standard by which almost all tongue-in-cheek games about real life are measured, and has been imitated many times but seldom equalled.



Review 2: Douglas Adams - more famous for Hichhikers Guide to the Galaxy (also available on this site) - he is also responsible for writing this overly easy but thoroughly entertaining text adventure. The whole game is based around your attempt to have your change of address acknowledged by the local authorities - I kid you not. The style of the game compliments the title and involves lots of pointless, and often humurous, form filling and tasks (the game includes a blood pressure gauge to show your level of stress. If this gets to high then you die and it's game over). It is a perfect satirical look at the kind of petty mindedness that is inherent to local government. If you want something that's different from any game that you have played before then Bureaucracy is your best bet. Die hard text adventure fanatics may find the game a little too easy, but you can't help but warm to the unique nature of it. A worthy addition to this site and a game that you should check.