Questprobe featuring The Hulk

Questprobe featuring The Hulk is a graphic adventure game in which the player controls the Hulk and his human alter ego Bruce Banner. The player can move between locations within the game's environment by entering one of four directions (north, south, east, and west), and can examine objects in search for clues to advance the narrative. The game features a 120-word vocabulary, and the parser can only register commands up to two words in length, generally in a verb/noun format (for example, "open box"). Commands consisting of a single letter may also by entered to expedite gameplay time (for example, "u" or "d" to move up or down). Although lethal scenarios may be encountered, dying merely results in the player being deposited in a limbo-like room, where the player may enter "go down" to descend a flight of stairs and resume gameplay without penalty. The game's graphics can be toggled on or off. The player can save their progress by entering "save game" and assigning the current game to one of four code letters (A, B, C, or D), which can be entered to load the game at a later time. ==Plot==

Bruce Banner awakens to find himself bound to a chair in a mysterious chamber. He manages to transform into the Hulk and free himself, but gas fills the room and permeates his skin, reverting him back to Banner. He explores his surroundings, which consist of three dome-shaped buildings and a grassy field surrounding them; Banner is able to transform into the Hulk outside of the domes. He happens upon an astral projection of Doctor Strange, who advises remembering Nightmare and encourages him to "look for Scott's next Marvel Adventure at [his] favorite store" before vanishing. In a cavern, the Hulk encounters Ultron, who has trapped Ant-Man in a cage. The Hulk gathers a swarm of army ants from the field, allowing Ant-Man to control them, incapacitate Ultron, and free himself. Throughout his exploration, the Hulk amasses a collection of gems. Upon retrieving all of them, the Hulk is approached by the Chief Examiner, who leaves him with the password "Aria". ==Development and release==

In 1983, Marvel Comics vice president Joseph Calamari, wishing to introduce the brand to home computers, searched for a licensee for use of the company's characters in a home computer game. He personally approached Adventure International founder and CEO Scott Adams, recognizing him as a leader in the market. Adams had been an avid reader of Marvel since his childhood, and saw potential in the venture. The negotiations for their contract lasted six months, with the final version being signed on December 1, 1983. It was also Adventure's first time using licensed characters, and Adams would reflect fondly in his collaboration with Marvel, considering them one of the friendliest firms he had worked with. To attract new players, Adams deliberately designed the game on a beginner's level by simplifying the puzzles, leading Adams to admit that "anybody who has played a lot will finish the game in a day". The Hulk's ability to leap great distances was omitted due to technical limitations, with Adams proposing that the absence of this ability could be attributed to the setting's artificial gravity. Between 50 and 70 drawings were created for the game, each ranging from 100 to 4,000 bytes in size. The game was made available in text-only cassette formats and disk formats that include graphics. The game's release was accompanied by a comic similarly titled Questprobe, with the first issue centering on Durgan the Philosopher, who tricks the Hulk into saving his doomed planet. According to Adventure International U.K. managing director Mike Woodruffe, many wholesalers had no provisions for distributing comics, and so were not able to supply retailers with it. Because of this, Adventure International decided to reduce the size of subsequent issues in order to package the comics along with the games. the Questprobe series was cancelled after three games. ==Reception==

Reception of the original release of Questprobe featuring The Hulk was generally positive, with the visuals receiving particular acclaim. The White Wizard of Personal Computer Games regarded the graphics as excellent, but was also thankful for the option to toggle them off to decrease loading times. Brain J. Murphy of inCider said: "Based on the fun I've had and the fun yet to come, I recommend you take a look at the Hulk episode of Questprobe". The budget re-release's reception was more mixed. Hetherington acknowledged the high difficulty, but proclaimed The Hulk to be the best Questprobe entry due to the character's simple set of powers. The White Wizard, writing for Zzap!64, remarked that the game's design had become antiquated since its original release, citing its two-word input, limited vocabulary, and illogical puzzles. A reviewer for ZX Computing Monthly lambasted the game's design and programming as poor, and remarked that the visuals have not aged entirely well. The reviewer added that while a few of the puzzles were fun, they were made harder by the aforementioned faults. ==References==