Suspended is a science fiction all-text adventure game in which you are the central mentality of a planet. Normally, three underground filtering computers keep conditions stable and under control. In an emergency, you may manually control the filtering computer functions to minimize surface casualties, while you repair the damage that woke you from your 500-year sleep. Should the populace suffer drastically while you attempt these repairs, "talking mechanisms" will quickly replace you.

Each robot perceives his surroundings differently. Thus, each robot's report regarding the contents of a given room may be wildly different. Only Iris can see, only Auda can hear, and Sensa perceives the state and patterns of electromagnetic energy. Waldo has a great gift of touch and is handy at fixing things. Whiz can get clues for you from his four computer peripherals. While not infallible, Poet can touch an object and tell if it is working or not; his "way-out" reports give him a fresh personality that steals the whole show.

The few puzzles, complex and highly interactive, must be solved in a minimum number of moves. The initial puzzle is pretty obvious: Iris can't see. Subsequent puzzles are not so obvious, except that an errata sheet needed to cover a bug advises you that some filtering computer cables must be replaced. Sadly, only one puzzle requires the use of two robots working together; this is regrettable, considering the potential of the concept. After rebalancing the repaired computers, you receive a two-screen conclusion summarizing the casualties and move requirements. You also get a relative efficiency score of one to seven and an appropriate reward, ranging from being burned in effigy to being considered for a home in the country and an unlimited bank account.

The best strategy is to march each robot around and discover his limitations and visualizations; after this, the game will start to make sense. Use the computer peripherals to get information on the objects that are encountered. Then, when you attempt to "solve" the game, watch for opportunities to conserve moves. For example, if you need two robots to arrive at two locations at the same time, order the one farthest from his destination first. As new robots come into play, those commanded earlier will continue toward their specified goal, advising you when they arrive.

After you get a grade of "three" (savior of the planet) or "four" (a candidate for a frontal lobotomy), other levels of difficulty await. In Advanced, events move faster and only five of the robots are available to you. In Configure, you define the starting set-up. You can "cheat" a smidge by starting with Iris fully functional and your robots better positioned. In the Impossible mode, it's two moves and zap! To add variety to replays, the computer reset codes change from game to game or during the game if you try to cheat. A real challenge for the replays would have been to change the color or lengths of the four replacement cables which can be found among the eight used in the system.

Mapping the 61-room complex is not necessary, a nifty map board is supplied. Just take good notes on what each robot sees in each room. The game shares the superlative parser and save-game feature of the other Infocom adventures. The latter should be used frequently to promote efficiency. Note that a robot must have the "attention" of the area which you wish to investigate more closely. In light of this fact, the fine vocabulary is occasionally marred. Suspended has a superb plot, features, and concept. However, the game has not exploited its concept to the extent that it could have.