By Will Moczarski
It’s time for a Sierra game! Pepper’s Adventures in Time was an entry in the short-lived (1991-93) Sierra Discovery Series that Jimmy Maher regards to be„[a]mong the most rewarding hidden gems in Sierra’s voluminous catalog“. You can read about several of the previous games from the series on our blog as many of them are adventure games or at least games with features reminiscent of adventure games, meaning our authors’ appreciation sometimes surpassed the actual PISSED rating. Reiko awarded Castle of Dr. Brain (1991) 46 points but EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus (1991), being the first proper adventure game in the series, scored an impressive 60 points. Not bad for a game targeted at children! Roberta Williams’ Mixed-Up Mother Goose (1991) is so far a future missed classic whereas Mixed Up Fairy Tales (also 1991) was reviewed by Aperama, scoring an equally impressive 54 points. Then there’s Quarky & Quaysoo’s Turbo Science (1992) which is neither an adventure game nor actually developed by Sierra but it’s still part of the Discovery Series so a short review for our blog wouldn’t be out of line, either. The sequel to Castle of Dr. Brain, called The Island of Dr. Brain (1992) scored 45 points but again Reiko thought it was „fun to play“ and it may well have scored higher on an alternate PISSED scale more suited to puzzle games. Alphabet Blocks (1992) is another non-adventure game not developed by Sierra but this one is even less likely to appear on the blog as it’s targeted at very young children (ages 3 and up). Finally, Lost Secret of the Rainforest, a game from the current gaming year and the sequel to EcoQuest, scored a little lower than its predecessor at 55 points. All of this bodes well for Pepper’s Adventures in Time which is the final adventure game from the series. So far, the average score of the series is 52. The Discovery Series was continued (or should I say stretched out?) for three more games: Spelling Jungle (1993), Ready, Set, Read with Bananas & Jack (1993), and Turbo Learning: Mega Math (1993). None of them was developed by Sierra but by the two companies responsible for previous non-Sierra games from the series: Bright Star Entertainment and Jeff Tunnell Productions.
But back to Pepper. The game was produced by Mark Seibert who had previously worked in Sierra’s audio department before being responsible for the CD-ROM edition of Jones in the Fast Lane. Pepper’s Adventures in Time was his first game as a producer but he went on to produce King’s Quest VII, Torin’s Passage, Phantasmagoria, Leisure Suit Larry VII, King’s Quest VIII, Arcanum, and Throne of Darkness. He then went back to being an audio director, working on Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath (2008) as an engineer and composing the music for Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail (2017).
The original idea for the game is credited to Bill Davis who had been creative director for classics such as Quest for Glory II, Castle of Dr. Brain, Space Quest IV, King’s Quest V, and Leisure Suit Larry 5. The four game designers have more big Sierra names among them, like Gano Haine who had previously worked on the two EcoQuest titles (and later designed the heroes for Hero-U!), the fantastic Jane Jensen, well-known for the Gabriel Knight series which is coming up soon on this blog, Josh Mandel who’d previously designed and directed Freddy Pharkas, and Lorelei Shannon for whom Pepper’s Adventures in Time was the first bigger job at Sierra and who went on to play a major role in the development teams for King’s Quest VII and Phantasmagoria.
Both of the manuals available online for Pepper’s Adventures in Time are quite unusual and quite the treasure troves. As one of them appears to be sort of a very short hint book I’ve only skimmed over it for now. The longer manual is quite impressive, though, taking its "edutainment" label quite seriously.
According to the manual, the objective of the game is to manipulate events in the past that have been mixed up, twisted, and confused in order to set history back on course. To successfully reach that goal it is vital to know about life in colonial America and especially about the life and times of Benjamin Franklin. The interface of the game contains a special TRUTH icon that "will reveal many fascinating and entertaining facts". This reads like there’s an additional look icon (called "truth") prompting additional infodumps. Also, there will be a history quiz at the end of each act. This is beginning to sound like work, or worse - school.
The TRUTH icon apparently reveals whether an object is historically accurate or an anachronism, followed by an explanation. Many answers to the history quiz are apparently hidden within these explanations, so it is recommended to use the icon frequently and indiscriminately. Moreover, there’s a QUIZ icon clicking on which will reveal a list of facts to look for. Each act contains a list of major goals, sort of like a quest log that is simply handed to you.
When you TALK to characters in Pepper’s Adventures in Time you can always ask them about Benjamin Franklin, the Pughs, and Lockjaw, your dog. You can also ask the characters about themselves. Lastly, it is possible to switch characters: you can play both as Pepper, a young girl, and as her dog, Lockjaw. The dog has a different icon bar: he can sniff people and things with his NOSE icon as well as chew, eat, drink, or bite with the TEETH icon.
The manual is littered with proverbs attributed to Benjamin Franklin as well as short explanations of them for young readers. Also, there’s a list of Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues to live by, again with short explanations. This is followed by an eight-page biography of Franklin, some short descriptions of his most famous inventions, a glossary with unusual terms contained within the game, a short but annotated bibliography, and a wordsearch as well as a crossword puzzle. I take it all in and solve the puzzles before starting the game because all of this may contain important information - it’s edutainment software, after all.
But enough of that: it’s time to start the game! It starts with a cute animation of a bursting clock before showing me the main screen. I can choose between the introduction, a short tutorial, starting the game or restoring a game. Let’s take a look at the intro sequence first. And that is really adorable. Pepper leads us around her neighbourhood, talking to people she knows and asking them weird fourth-wall-breaking questions that double as a credits roll. There are also some jokes with the neighbours’ names, like Mr. Ennui whose life has no direction but he likes it that way. I’m not sure whether the sequence even introduces us to characters from the game which would be even nicer. Also, it introduces Pepper’s dog Lockjaw who sometimes growls at people he clearly doesn’t like. Barbecue enthusiast Mr. Spheroid asks Pepper who the lead chef is after she tells him all about the lead animator and the lead programmer. It’s not laugh out loud funny but it’s a nice touch. The whole introduction really is a success. Somebody really should redo it for the cast of The Adventurers Guild!
After the delightful introduction I start the game proper. I can pick one of six acts but decide to do them in order. The first act is called “Time Travel.” The others are called “Philadelphia”, “Kite/Key Experiment”, “Stamp Act”, “Constitutional Convention”, and “Rescue Lockjaw.” If you have forgotten that this game will be about Benjamin Franklin here’s your friendly reminders. Five of them. These are only their abbreviated names, however. The first act is called, in all its glory, “Pepper Travels Through Time or Colonial Crash Landing.”
Passionate Pepper Does Some Chrono Groundwork
After the title screen for the act I am presented with a list of things to look for in this act, specifically
- Poor Richard’s Almanack
- The Town Watch
- The Liberty Bell
- The Village Stocks
- The Stamp Tax
There’s also a list of objectives for my convenience:
- Meet Uncle Fred
- Go Back in Time
- Escape from the Watchman
And...the interface and the animations have the look and feel of a Sierra game. However, the graphics look a bit like those from Day of the Tentacle. Even the music on the first screen is very similar to its main theme. Moreover, I can control Pepper’s dog Lockjaw but only in specific situations. Wasn’t that the case with Max in Sam & Max Hit the Road as well? Is there some sort of mini-parody buried in here? Will Uncle Fred’s time machine play a role in attempts at world domination?
Spoiler: yes, it will. Uncle Fred is as Edison as they get. But Day of the Tentacle was released on June 25, 1993 while I seem unable to find a proper release date for Pepper. It seems like a major coincidence.
Picket Fences
I am then left to explore the first screen which has no visible exits except the front door but if I try to make Pepper enter the house Lockjaw (who’s not allowed to come along) will whimper and she will change her mind about it. There’s a chewed-up piece of gum I can pick up from the sidewalk (1 point) but it’s not like Day of the Tentacle at all because I don’t need a crowbar to get it unstuck. Pepper humorously steps in the gum first before picking it up, starting a cute animation of her trying to get rid of it first. Looking at it in my inventory, she tells me it’s an “old, hard, nasty, hairy piece of gum. Yech!” Point taken, Pepper.
I can talk to the “sassy bluejay” in the apple tree but it’s not a very rewarding conversation. The same holds true when I try to talk to Lockjaw. There’s no way to climb the tree and reach either the bird or the apples. I examine everything thoroughly and the game has a nicely written answer for most of my actions. Other than the piece of gum I can pick up a broken piece of drainpipe (1). I attempt to reattach it but that doesn’t work. I feel that I might be able to glue it back on with the gum (adventure game logic, y’know) but can’t figure out how. Furthermore, I can fill Lockjaw’s water bowl (1) several times and he will lift his leg by the apple tree every once in a while (yes, I tried it several times to see whether anything changes). When I try to pick up one of the flowers from my neighbour’s flowerbed (1) she will immediately look out the window and tell me off for being such a nasty girl. She also gives me a hint by telling me that Lockjaw has buried some things in her flowerbed (1). I can also talk to my neighbour whose name is Mrs. O’Brien while she’s at the window, and Pepper will insult her in a variety of creative ways.
When I try to use the gum with the broken piece of drainpipe a cute thought bubble appears above Pepper’s head and she tells me that it won’t stick because it’s just not soft enough. A-ha, I’m on the right track! I try chewing the gum to make it softer but Pepper won’t have any of it. Lockjaw, however, takes one for the team and chews the gum to make it soft and sticky again (1). I can now connect the gum to the drainpipe (3) and fix it (3). When I try to climb the drainpipe Pepper refrains from doing so because her “parental units” are in the kitchen. This triggers a short dialogue between Mr. and Mrs. Pumpernickel (1) in which they argue about Uncle Fred being so loud all the time. Pepper resolves to find out all about what he’s doing which is good enough since it’s one of my mission objectives to meet Uncle Fred. After the dialogue, Pepper will try to climb the drainpipe but Lockjaw won’t let her go. Another dialogue is triggered, this time between Pepper and Lockjaw about how he has hidden his harness and can’t find it. (Lockjaw doesn’t actually talk but just like in a good Han-and-Chewie friendship, Pepper knows what he wants to express.) I am then prompted to take control of Lockjaw and now have all different items at my disposal.
Coming up soon-ish: Game 197: The Beast Within - A Gabriel Knight Mystery
Playing as Lockjaw I can dig into Mrs. O’Brien’s flowerbed and recover the harness (2). The controls switch back to Pepper and I can put the harness on Lockjaw (3) and finally climb the drainpipe (4). We both emerge on the roof where I can spy on Uncle Fred from the window (1). Uncle Fred has built a time machine and talks to himself (like evil geniuses do) about how he could alter history in an evil way. He weighs his options and then decides to turn Benjamin Franklin into a toothless hippie, rendering his achievements all but impossible for him because he’d be more interested in slacking off, or to put it the way Uncle Fred does: “he’ll be an incense-burning, headband-wearing jellyfish!” With Franklin out of the picture, Uncle Fred hopes to make the American revolution all but impossible.
Unfortunately, Pepper is a little clumsy and stumbles right into the middle of it with Lockjaw hot on her heels. Once discovered, she challenges her uncle outright and tells him she will foil his plans. Uncle Fred, however, simply picks her up by her shoulders and throws her into the wall (!). Lockjaw bites him in revenge and then accidentally jumps into the time machine uncle Fred just activated by using Pepper as the involuntary remote control/projectile for the on/off switch. Pepper naturally can’t let her dog travel into the past alone and jumps right after him (2). After a trippy sequence that would be right up the new, mellow Benjamin Franklin’s alley, they land in Philadelphia, the year is 1764. Two members of the Hare Krishna cult are carrying the Liberty Bell around when Pepper crashes right into it. But that, my friends, is a story for another day.
Creme tangerine and Montelimar / A ginger sling with a pineapple heart
Points so far: 25
Time played: 20 minutes