Encarta Maze

[Giraldo Allain]

Bundledin with the Microsoft Encarta encyclopaedia package the Mindmaze was a trivia challenge for the ages. The player character had to navigate the maze of passages on each floor of a castle answering questions as you enter each room. Successfully answering would allow you passage to the next and you would accumulate points towards an overall goal. To make it easier (or harder) you can narrow down the list of questions by selecting from a list of categories. If you are struggling, the game offers you hints from relevant encyclopaedia pages and to broaden your mind might just offer you background information anyway.

There is the odd slightly counter intuitive design decision that subtracts from the overall experience slightly. The questions are timed with higher points going to faster answers. This scoring system then ties in with how quickly you are reward for completing the main quest. However, I found this discouraged me from using the encyclopaedia links to investigate the answers and instead lead to my memorising of the facts in an effort to get as many points as possible. As an eight year old British child I had a vast knowledge of American leisurely pursuits with no context or way of applying what I had learned. For example, did you know that Gene Sarazen was part of the first admission class for the World Golf Hall of Fame? I did. I had no context or means to use the information that I had gathered but thanks to Encarta I knew this fact. In addition this memorising also caused me to see fewer questions per game which seems to be the opposite outcome to the games design goal. This definitely feels like a throwback to the early nineties trend of pretty much every game keeping a score even when unsuitable for the game mechanics or just confusing.

The game is a bit easy though; youu can have two guesses; and half of the answers don't make sense at all. It also reveals subtle details that I always pay too much attention to, such as the nationality of a person, although it at least doesn't include the birth and death dates, which I pay even more attention to. But still; it's a very entertaining game. Are there any updated versions of Mindmaze that I can get without purchasing another copy of Encarta; or are there any Mindmaze like games on the web? "Einstein is a fool." - Schrodinger

"The way to chastity is not to struggle with incontinent thoughts but to avert the thoughts by some employment, or by reading, or by meditating on other things, or by conversation. " - Sir Isaac Newton

CC AoPS M-W PF SSP OCW IBS KCLS CB

"We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this something, at whatever cost, must be attained" - Marie Curie

"I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy" - Marie Curie AuthorReplies: Artifex Chalybis

Squire posted 08-15-03 09:49 PM CT (US) 1 / 10 In years past, I thought it honestly boring - I'm not too dogmatic for Encarta information. Encarta is mutating in worse forms. Encarta 2003 (I think), is worse than 96 (9 years!), IMO: not even mentioning the "Mindmaze" having less games and more junk.

Thus...Quoted from Simmy!:

I doubt an existence of an updated version. Additionally, I just looked at it aesthetically, looking at the intriguing cariactures you found for most part. I "played" this rarely, only deliberately failing the questions. I think I have actually tried playing the game and found it sort of easy. I seriously don't know. This was a equivocal past indent in me smeared by history, of a history I did not truly percieve.BTW,

Quote:

Anyway, I always felt a little off when going through the maze simply because of its size. Every floor of the tower has a limited number of rooms, but there are a lot of rooms per floor. Like, how huge is this tower? Why are there so many people inside asking you questions? Do they live there? Are they prisoners?

Anyway, I found replaying the game back in the day really interesting, but also disquieting. Huge, open levels in game are fun when they take place indoors not in an underwater sea base filled with lifeless goons trying to punch you.

3a8082e126