♦ Livestream of the ZZT world "Peter's World 3: Land of Larry" by Tyler Johnston [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/petersw3/]. ♦
Leave it to Larry to save the day in this final Peter's World game. Another "exiting" game.
Slowly but surely, Tyler learns how to use ZZT-OOP. There are objects that players can touch now, though no #end commands so everything spits out its message when you enter a board. The clunky random note music from the previous game return and now properly loops, turning the game into a slow torture session.
The starting few boards show some measurable improvements in terms of coherency. We are told who we are, son of Peter and princess Andrea, Larry. We are told to go to school. We are told we do not want to go to school. Larry's home is recognizable as a home. The bus that takes him to school looks the part, though the seats are gigantic. It almost seems like there's going to be a reasonable experience here for players.
But then it all returns to the core issue of these games: passage errors and dead end boards.
Larry cannot escape his father's destiny, and is forced to wander aimlessly hoping to move forward and figure out what the heck he should be doing.
It does have a few fun moments at least. The art classroom features some lovely framed paintings that the author continues to impress with. The music room will make you smile with its horrible spelling of instruments like the bango and saxiphone.
Eventually you just kind of leave the school and go wherever. Including a warp room that can take you to a few places. The Sierra Desert has drawings of floppy disks of Space Quest 7, King's Quest 5, and the Peter's World series. Mario Land consists of a room where players will instantly be killed with a blink wall. And of course, the unforgettable Devil's Hole where Larry fights Satan to rescue his parents (who weren't known to be missing).
The game then praises you for kicking rump. So it's not to say it's without its charms.
Probably the best of the trilogy by far, and one that would at least have been interesting if you didn't have to constantly second-guess if you were placed on the proper passage when changing boards.
♦ Play this world directly in your browser ♦
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/petersw3/
♦ Originally streamed on December 29th, 2023 ♦
