<!--
	Title: (Critically Speaking...Multi-Systems) Leather Goddesses of Phobos
	Source: Computer Entertainer, v5(7)
	Date: October 1986
	Transcription by Steve Derby
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**LEATHER GODDESSES OF PHOBOS (NA / ⭐⭐⭐⭐)**
may be ***<u>Infocom's</u>*** most outrageous piece of interactive
fiction yet. The text game at standard level is described as a
comedy take-off on science fiction pulp of the 1930's with a
generous sprinkling of sex, but somehow everything but the
word "sex" has been ignored by those waiting for the game's
release. Author Steve Meretzky ("A Mind Forever Voyaging,"
co-author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") has
finally brough a four-year-old Infocom inside joke to life, and
he should be very happy with the results, even if the program
isn't banned from Seven-Elevent Stores.

## *Three Naughtiness Levels*

There are three "naughtiness" levels of play: merely
suggestive, downright lewd, or safely tame. These levels are
similar to movie ratings of PG, R, and G, respectively, and of
course every player will go straight to "lewd" mode. (The
program will ask for age verification, and the under-18 players
can get around this little problem by lying.) We bypassed
"tame" altogether and tried the game out in both suggestive
and lewd modes, both of which contain quite a lot of clever
humorous sexual innuendo and double-entendres, but nothing
that's likely to offend. (After all, anyone who is ultra-sensitive
to sexual content isn't likely to purchase the game
in the first place.)

## *Abduction to Phobos*

The story begins in Joe's Bar in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
Shortly after you've established the gender of your character in
the story, you're rudely abducted by the Leather Goddesses, who
toss you into a cell on Phobos, a tiny moon of Mars.
Escaping from your cell, you embark on a crazy tour of the
Solar System, accompanied by your friend Tiffany of Trent
(depending on whether you play the game as a female or
male). Before leaving the jail area, though, you'll probably
observe the unspeakable experiments being carried out by the
Leather Goddesses in preparation for their planned invasion of
Earth. (They intend to turn Earth into their private pleasure
playground.) Your new friend has a plan to build a "Super-Duper
Anti-Leather Goddesses of Phobos Attack Machine" and
only the two of you can gather up the necessary parts. Six
feet of rubber hose? A copy of the Cleveland phone book? A
white mouse? This is going to be one weird machine!

## *Interplanetary Romp*

You and your friend are off on an interplanetary romp -- a
trip of a lifetime. Visit the steaming jungles of Venus, where
the Venus flytraps consume people. (It's an experience you
won't forget!) Wander the red Martian desert, known as the
"Ruined Castle Capital of the Solar System," and try to find
the harem. Meet a king, gather strange objects, avoid danger,
sniff pungent aromas (matched with a scratch'n'sniff card in
the game package), solve puzzles, and enjoy erotic encounters.
At times you may have so much fun exploring that you
forget about the machine you're trying to build. Remember
that sometimes you must forgo your own pleasure in order to
save the Earth from the degenerate plot of the Leather
Goddesses!

## *Highly Entertaining*

This is prime Infocom interactive fiction -- highly
entertaining, humorous, well written, and full of puzzles that
are challenging without being too frustrating. The addition of
a little sex to spice up the story will certainly get gamers'
attention and it adds a delightful new dimension to interactive
fiction. (Solo play; keyboard.) Available for Amiga, Apple II,
Atari XL/XE & ST, Commodore 64/128, IBM PC/PCjr,
Macintosh.

**Recommended.** (MSR $34.95 Atari XL/XE & C64 $44.95 others)
