from Practical Computing, April 1982, page 175, column "End of File":
Zork
Magic meets Science Fiction in this game
from "The War Machine"
reviewed by Peter Fitch.
In the field of Adventure games, the Zork project was one of the early
mainframe attempts to create a fantasy world that a player could wander
through and manipulate. Subsequent microcomputer Adevntures owe a great
deal to it.
Unfortunately, Zork itself - which has now been condensed to fit on
to disc-based micro systems - suffers by comparison with more recent
Adventures. They have improved on features originally devised by the
Zork programming team, and they incorporate flashier graphic effects
which make the games more visually appealing although, inevitably, less
complex and rewarding. Only so much can be crammed into a given amount
of memory, and an Adventure programmer never has enough.
Unfair to Trolls
Zork is a 48K game marketed on floppy disc for the Apple II and other
computers. It is a classic machine-code Adventure type game and leans
heavily on the original. I have never had the pleasure of playing
Adventure on a mainframe, so I cannot compare Zork with it. I can only
say that it is the best of the class I have come across.
It is an open-ended Adventure without any built-in time limit, though
there are the normal internal time limitations. It is a game of points
for objects and actions, which is rather a pity. I would have preferred
a more substantial goal.
The game is supplied in a plastic zip-lock bag containing the disc
and a well-printed explanatory booklet. There is an evil Troll-like
entity on the cover which I assume is the one I keep killing near the
beginning of the game. He is being intimidated by a sword-carrying Hero
type. It is a pity that no-one has started a "Save the Trolls" campaign.
At the rate Adventure players go through them, the population must be
dropping very rapidly since the advent of micros.
The disc loaded without problems, giving a standard description/action
screen display. The booklet explains the context and aims for the
uninitiated and the grammar for inputting commands to the puppet in the
Adventure world. As movement occurs in the world, the computer updates
from the disc, but not so often or so much as to upset the flow of the
game.
The puppet is manipulated as one has come to expect in this type of
game. Commands such as "Go west", "W", "tie rope" and "take skull" can
be inputted and obeyed. It is pleasing that the grammar is sophisticated
enough to allow more complex orders to be inputted in what approximates
to English, for example, "Go west and take rope"; "Tie rope to railings
and climb down".
A sequence of orders can be inputted and obeyed although each action
counts as a time unit. Handling is tremendously improved. The vocabulary
is very large too, compared to many other Adventure games, and there is
little searching for the correct word as in some games. Active response
from the puppet is limited.
There is no bartering for equipment at the beginning of the game. This
is unfortunate since this useful part of the game could easily be
chained in.
Sufficiently complex
The surface environment is quite large and well-described and laid
out. It does not seem like rooms, which can sometimes happen in other
games which use the surface. It is bounded by the usual impenetrable
woods and mountains, and contains a river, a dam with power station, a
lake, a falls and other atmospheric touches. This is a complete contrast
to other games where you are forced to crawl around dank tunnels all the
time, without a sight of sunlight. The underground part of the game
which, thanks to the foresight of the programmer, sometimes comes to the
surface, is large enough, complex enough and varied enough for many
hours of pleasure.
Magic plays some part in the game and not always in context, which
could be annoying. Magic should be logical and not arbitrary if it is to
exist. There is a Troll quite near the beginning of the game but little
else in the way of dangerous beings.
The only other mobile danger is that other well-tried character, the
thief. He is quite lethal if attacked, and steals a little too often and
at times illogically. Can you really believe that he could take away
your only light without you noticing or attempting to stop him? He is
also very difficult to kill.
There are no major bugs, though I would suggest that you avoid
inserting elements out of context. They seem to hang around in the
background even when they have disappeared for the purposes of the game.
Conclusions
Zork is an enjoyable Adventure game, though it is not very original
apart from its presentation.
- As a puzzle it is good but it would have been improved by a few new
ideas.
- After playing Zork for three months there were still some areas of the
game which remained unsolved.
- Ratings:
Physical quality Very good
Perceived complexity Very good
Subject complexity Fair
Realism Fair
Play balance Very good
Overall Good
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