Name: A Night With Troi
Platform: AGT
Designer: Badman
Version: ?
Release Date: 9/10/1991
Review Date: 7/21/2004
Spoilers in Review: Minor
Kastier's ranking: 4.6 out of 10

Plot synopsis:
As a new officer on board the Starship Enterprise (of Star Trek: The Next 
Generation fame), you've been trying to get Counselor Deanna Troi in bed with 
you for months.  Tonight, after a few drink in 10-Forward, she has invited you 
into her quarters.  It's pretty obvious that she's willing. Now it's up to you 
to make it happen.

Writing + Plot:
By and large, Star Trek AIF games usually have very little plot, and a 
singular goal of repeatedly getting lucky with various good-looking female 
Star Trek characters. 

A Night with Troi is no different than the others, with the exception that in 
this case, there's almost nothing in the way of puzzles.  It's intended purely 
as a sexual romp with Troi, providing in text what previously had required 
extremely active imaginations. 

You're not going to get a masterpiece here, but the text of the game is mostly 
decently written, with few spelling or grammatical mistakes.  That's notable 
because many older AIF games have mistakes all over the place.  It's clear that 
Badman put effort in proofreading before releasing this. That said, the sex 
scenes in ANWT are not the most erotic in the world.  In fact, they read more 
like a raunchy Penthouse story than anything else.  Some of the wording of the 
individual sex acts leaves a little to be desired and is hardly erotic.  Here's 
an example:

"Deanna spreads her legs, and motions for you to get your naked ass over   
to that couch in a hurry.  You climb onto her, and her nimble fingers lead     
you to her gate.  You whack it balls deep inside her, and her fingernails dig
into your back."

Naturally, with descriptions like this, you almost get the sense that Badman 
was satirizing the whole concept of the game he was creating, or perhaps the 
idea of Deanna Troi as sex goddess. 

Outside of the sex acts, the game is very sparse. There's little in the way of 
objects in the game, and those few objects there are have tiny descriptions 
that barely give any details about them.  That includes the game's main sex 
object, Deanna Troi.  An example from a description of her butt:

"Counselor Troi's butt is nicely shaped and offers a good place to hold on to 
as well."

Enough said.
Score: 6

Technical (design + programming):
Technically, ANWT has few bugs.  The only one I found had to do with "put Troi 
on counter."  After she's on it, how do you get her back off? 

This bug aside, ANWT seems to be, on the whole, fairly cleanly programmed with 
a few interesting innovations.

Badman programmed the game to have a number of permutations of sex acts, based 
on where you are, how Troi is positioned, whether or not you or she are 
clothed, etc.  This added innovation gives the game a lot more depth and 
entertainment value than it would otherwise because the player has incentive to 
try out as many positions and states of disrobement as possible to see all the 
scenes.

ANWT would get a high score technically if it weren't for the parser. Since I'm 
not an AGT guru, I can't say how much of the parser issues were related to AGT 
itself and how many were just poor programming. I'm inclined to think it's 
mostly the later.   Guessing the verb usually is, and there's a little of that 
here.

But guessing the verb is only half the issue.  The big issue is all the unique 
verbs that the game insists you use to do things that you'd normally do by 
typing, "f*** ass" or "f*** breasts" or "lick pu**y."  These are all 
possibilities that could have been used instead of "buttfuck" or  "give head to 
Troi."  Later AGT games by Newkid didn't have the weird verb use requirements 
that this game displays, so I know it's possible.

Granted, Badman warns the player in the game instructions that these special 
words are needed, but it's hard to remember them all, its tedious, and other 
options would have worked just as well.  (The shower comes to mind.  Why not 
just have a button to turn on the shower?)

The parser issues will seem minor to some, but for me it serves as a huge 
distraction from the game.
Score: 4

Entertainment Factor:
A Night with Troi is only moderately entertaining. The sex scenes are mildly if 
a bit hokey and written a little more roughly than I'd suggest for most games. 
If it were for the writing alone, the game would get a higher score in the 
entertainment category.

The parser issues take a lot out of it. Having to type and retype commands over 
and over when the game doesn't recognize them is frustrating and annoying.  It 
helps to kill the fun of it.

Now, it might not be entirely fair to indite a 13 year old game for problems 
with an aged parser, but to the modern player, this does remain a major issue. 
Furthermore, ANWT's parser issues are not the fault of AGT, but the 
programmer's lack of imagination in implementing. Today's players are used to 
better parsers, and it's going to affect their enjoyment as much as it did mine.
Score: 4

-----------------------------------------------
The Last Word:
Although my review gives it low marks, A Night with Troi is notable because it 
became one of the best known AIF games in the early 90's, and perhaps, was one 
of the keynote games that helped spark initial life into the now thriving Adult 
Interactive Community.  

Also notable is the fact that this game's premise and concept was so popular 
that it sparked at least 4 similar "A Night With" games, all based on Star Trek 
characters.

In the end, ANWT shows it age, but is worth recognition because it helped to 
create a genre of IF that now stands at over 100 games.

Kastier's ranking: 4.6 out of 10