History VideoGame / Suspended

The current CM is suddenly woken by a series of error messages. An earthquake has damaged all three Filtering Computers, causing chaos and death on the surface. The guys that put him in there had no backup plans in case of such a catastrophic failure, leaving the CM to try and fix all three before too much damage occurs. Unfortunately, because he’s still in a tube, he has to mentally control six robots in the facility, each of whom has a very specific function. Even worse, a previous CM (Gregory Franklin) went insane and tried to destroy the planet, meaning the public has very little tolerance for this kind of situation. If the death toll gets too high, they’ll be coming down to fix the problem themselves...by shutting you down.

* NoEnding: The instant the last computer is fixed, the game exits. [[FauxSymbolism This represents the CM shutting back down for the rest of his/her stay.]]

* {{Feelies}}: This is an Infocom game, after all. The Feelies included a booklet about the facility and the robots, a letter congratulating you on being chosen to serve as CM, a lottery card, and a map of the facility (with tokens to help you keep track of your robots). The box itself was a really cool looking mask of someone in cryogenic animations.

* NightmareFace: The [[http://gallery.guetech.org/suspended_mask/outer-front.jpg original release's box cover]]. That face was 3D molded plastic, and probably sent young children screaming. The eyes are printed on the manual behind the mask, and it makes them follow you.

* RedHerring: Fred, the seventh robot. He's a multipurpose model, which would make him the most useful machine in the room, right? Too bad that one nutty CM completely destroyed him. You can find his body all right, but you’re wasting your time if you try to repair him. [[spoiler: That wire inside him might be of use though.]]

* FailsafeFailure: The small informational booklet constantly mentions that nothing can possible go wrong, and as such, leave no real directions behind in case of a failure (and the ones they DO give are either BlatantLies or filled with half-truths). The problem is, you ARE the Failsafe, and when you wake up, you have no directions, your robots are in terrible shape, and the REAL damage has just barely begun. In particular, they never bothered to fix the incredibly helpful multitasking Fred robot [[spoiler:and neither can you.]]

The current CM is suddenly woken by a series of error messages. An earthquake has damaged all three Filtering Computers, causing chaos and death on the surface. The guys that put him in there had no backup plans in case of such a catastrophic failure, leaving the CM to try and fix all three before too much damage occurs. Unfortunately, because he’s still in a tube, he has to mentally control six robots in the facility, each of whom has a very specific function. Even worse, a previous CM went insane and tried to destroy the planet, meaning the public has very little tolerance for this kind of situation. If the death toll gets too high, they’ll be coming down to fix the problem themselves...by shutting you down.

* AGodAmI: One of the previous [=CMs=] went this route, and it's made the public a tad unsettled at your existence since then.

A TextAdventure, released by Creator/{{Infocom}} in 1983.

* AndIMustScream: "A Cryogenic Nightmare" indeed. You can't see or move. You have five robots that between them ''almost'' make up one complete, functional human. And no way to communicate with the technicians coming to disconnect you.

* NoEnding: The instant the last computer is fixed, the game exits. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic This represents the CM shutting back down for the rest of his/her stay.]]

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Rumours that you can repair Fred somehow. You can't. As it says in the hint book, Fred can never be repaired.

* AGodAmI: One of the previous [=CMs=] went this route, and it’s made the public a tad unsettled at your existence since then.
* AndIMustScream: " A Cryogenic Nightmare" indeed. You can't see or move. You have five robots that between them ''almost'' make up one complete, functional human. And no way to communicate with the technicians coming to disconnect you.

* GuideDangIt: You know that map we mentioned back in the {{Feelies}} entry? Well, the game neglects to tell you where the room exits are, which room is which, etc. You know, the things you need to know in order to get anywhere? The game also fails to tell you what each robot does and what commands they’ll respond to. Meaning, if you try to play without the Feelies…good luck.

* LotteryOfDoom: Congratulations! You’ve won the lottery! And your prize is being locked up over twenty miles underground, frozen for five hundred years, while your brain is used to run your entire civilization!

* NintendoHard: You have to manage six robots, each of whom see and work differently from the others, while an incredibly unforgiving time limit ticks away. This was rated “Expert” for a reason.

* RedHerring: Fred, the seventh robot. He’s a multipurpose model, which would make him the most useful machine in the room, right? Too bad that one nutty CM completely destroyed him. You can find his body all right, but you’re wasting your time if you try to repair him. [[spoiler: That wire inside him might be of use though.]]

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You're ''supposed'' to be preventing a planetary apocalypse. But if you prefer, you can just sit back, maybe murder your own robots for fun, and watch the world burn…

* NightmareFace: The [[http://gallery.guetech.org/suspended_mask/outer-front.jpg original release's box cover]]. That face was 3D molded plastic, and probably sent young children screaming.

* FridgeLogic: Invoked in-universe, the manual implies that people who bring up objections to the system mentioned on the FridgeLogic page tend to get "lucky" in the next lottery,

* BlessedWithSuck: Congratulations! You’ve won the lottery! And your prize is being locked up over twenty miles underground, frozen for five hundred years, while your brain is used to run your entire civilization!

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Keep in mind you’re bringing down a planetary apocalypse. You can just sit back, maybe murder your own robots for fun, and watch the world burn…

* TimedMission: From the start of the game, you have to fix all the Filtering Computers before the people come down and kill you. You CAN shut down the transport system[[hottip:*:or steal the repair crew's equipment, or lead them to some of the damage]] to give yourself a little more time, but if it comes to that, you’re pretty much dead.

The current CM is suddenly woken by a series of error messages. An earthquake has damaged all three Filtering Computers, causing chaos and death on the surface. The guys that put him in there had no backup plans in case of such a catastrophic failure, leaving the CM to try and fix all three before too much damage occurs. Unfortunately, because he’s still in a tube, he has to mentally control six robots in the facility, each of whom has a very specific function. Even worse, a previous CM went insane and tried to destroy the planet before, meaning the public has very little tolerance for this kind of situation. If the death toll gets too high, they’ll be coming down to fix the problem themselves...by shutting you down.

* {{Feelies}}: This is an Infocom game, after all. The Feelies included a booklet about the facility and the robots, a letter congratulating you on being chosen to serve as CM, a lottery card, and a map of the facility (with tokens to help you keep track of your robots).

* FailsafeFailure: The small informational booklet constantly mentions that nothing can possible go wrong, and as such, leave no real directions behind in case of a failure (and the ones they DO give are either BlatantLies or filled with half-truths). The problem is, you ARE the Failsafe, and when you wake up, you have no directions, your robots are in terrible shape, and the REAL damage has just barely begun.

* ItGotWorse: Two more earthquakes hit at a set number of moves. The first causes an acid spill in one corridor; if a robot passes through it, they’ll die. The second quake causes enough damage to the Filtering Computers to shut down food production and distribution, sending the death toll skyrocketing unless you finish repairs immediately.

A TextAdventure, released by {{Infocom}} in 1983.

* {{Unwinnable}}: If you lose the wrong combination of robots, the game is pretty much done for.
** UnwinnableByDesign: [[HarderThanHard Impossible Mode]] is just that. The sun goes nova after only a few turns, destroying Contra.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Until they come down and turn you off.

* FridgeLogic: Immersing yourself in this scenario requires ignoring large swathes of common sense and logic:
** The creators of the system gave you no way to communicate with your fellow humans and, say, warn them to stop using the flying cars that are about to drop out of the sky.
** The one "perfect" robot is broken beyond repair. Since this is such a critical system, nobody thought to repair it? Or replace the others with six more?
** Why even have someone frozen in there in the first place? Since humans have access to the complex anyway, and the computer is intelligent enough to alert you when something goes wrong, why not have it send a distress signal outside, then let the humans come in and fix whatever's wrong? They are technical enough to replace you with a clone, but they can't ''solder a wire''?
*** FridgeBrilliance: ...all of which could be explained by Contra having one messed-up bureaucracy, as suggested by the feelies.

* MeaningfulName: Each of the robots has a name that matches their function. There’s Iris (the vision robot), Waldo (the grabbing robot), Sensa (who senses photonic emissions and ionic discharges), Auda (who can hear thing), Poet (who speaks in a kind of cipher at times), and Whiz (who connects you with the Central Library Core).

* KilledOffForReal: If a robot is destroyed, it’s not coming back.