~4 minute readreviews
Beyond Zork
"You are standing on a narrow path which curves along a rocky ledge over looking the sea. You press your back against the sheer cliff wall, trying not to hear the waves crashing on the rocks, far below. An inscription is carved upon the face of the cliff which reads:
My tines be long,
My tines be short,
My tines end ere my first report.
What am I?"
Those of us who have traversed the Great Underground Empire of Zork I, Zork II, and Zork III may recognize that familiar style of interactive storytelling and smile. Those who have not are in for a treat. Infocom has done it again. Beyond Zork has arrived, and it is everything we would expect from an adventure game that bears the Zork name. A new universe, created by the award-winning author of Trinity and Wishbringer, Brian Moriarty, is there for the exploring.
The Beyond Zork scenario deposits us in the Kingdom of Quendor, across the sea from the Great Underground Empire. You, a mere peasant, must unravel the mysteries that have bewitched this land. All the Wizards have vanished. Dangerous characters and monsters roam the streets and countryside of this once-fair empire. Only by seeking out and locating the famed Coconut of Quendor, mystic relic, and all-powerful wellspring of Magick, can this world return to its not-so-normal state.
Most of what you need to advance within the game can be found in several shops. Items such as swords, battleaxes, protective clothing, and various magical equipment must be purchased. Your neighborhood Magic Shop, Weapons Store, and Fashion Boutique are all located in different cities. An impoverished vagabond like yourself must locate things of value in your travels and sell them for Zorkmids, the official coin of the realm. Only then can you afford the finer things a well-heeled adventurer needs to save a distressed civilization.
The game begins by asking if you would like to begin with a "set" character already generated by the computer, with designated abilities. Or, if you wish, you may design a character of your own, giving him or her varying amounts of endurance, luck, intelligence, compassion, and strength. When requested, bar graphs displaying the percentages of these individual attributes appear in a boxed area at the top of your screen. These graphs offer an at-a-glance look at your ever-changing abilities. The graphs also automatically appear when there is a change in your status. For example, if you are attacked and injured by one of the game's monsters, the endurance graph displays your declining endurance until you defeat your foe or flee the area. When your endurance has reached its end, then so have you, and you must begin the game anew. Of course, saving your position at several points throughout the game is advised and will prevent you from having to restart your quest from the beginning.
The story intimately involves the player, making the game as addicting as any best-selling novel.
Brian Moriarty's story is the most impressive feature of the Beyond Zork experience. Capturing the imagination, the story intimately involves the player with the interaction, making the game as addicting as any best-selling novel, I found myself playing Beyond Zork hours past the time I had set aside for it. I have read opinions about text-only adventure games becoming obsolete due to the advent of flashier, hi-res graphics adventure games. I don't agree. Not that these graphics adventures are not wonderful in their own right, but the pictures they produce cannot compare with the pictures generated by well-written text in the most sophisticated computers any where: the human mind.
This self-booting program is written for the Commodore 128, and you'll need an 80-column monitor and either a 1541 or 1571 disk drive to play the game. All the features of the program are well documented within the unique packaging, and, as usual, Infocom's documentation is presented in an entertaining and easy-to-understand manner.
A colorful 17 X 22-inch pictoral map of The Kingdom of Quendor is supplied with the package. While the map is nicely drawn and is of a quality that any adventurer would be proud to display, it cannot be used to direct you through the game. Using it would be like trying to use a satellite weather photo as a road map. An onscreen map is displayed alongside the text area, as you move around within the program. This map is very handy for knowing where you are and is helpful in planning your next move. Only the rooms directly around you are displayed here, however, so your adventure mapmaking days are not over.
A nice addition worth noting is the program's use of the 128's function keys. Each key can be used as an abbreviation of any command you choose. If you find that you often use a certain sentence like "Drop all but the lamp," all you have to do is to set a function key and voila, with a single keystroke, your sentence is there. Long or difficult words you'll encounter in the story are also good candidates for this option.
Like most programs from Infocom, Beyond Zork requires regular access to the disk drive. Every time you press RETURN for a move or action, the program searches the disk for information. Although I've never had any trouble with my drive, even after hundreds of hours of adventuring, I still find myself fretting about it.
At the beginning of this article, I paraphrased some of Beyond Zork's great text, which included a riddle. The fun of these games is to unravel these mysteries all by yourself, but I won't leave you without a nudge in the right direction. Think of report as a loud sound and not its usual meaning of disclosing information.
The rest is up to you.
Beyond Zork
Infocom
125 Cambridge Park Dr.
Cambridge, MA 02140
$44.95
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