WHAT'S IN STORE: SOFTWARE REVIEWS

Zork I (Adventure)

Eric Grevstad

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: Apple II/II plus/lIe. 32K disk
MANUFACTURER; Infocom
PRICE: S39.95

Trying to select the "best" adventure game is a lot like trying to select the "best" book. But if you're starting a library, everyone agrees that you should include some Dickens and Shakespeare; and if you're collecting adventure games, you're not finished until you have Zork I.

You explore the unknown terrain of a small house and the magical kingdom beneath it, typing in instructions to the computer, as in all text adventures. An unreliable flashlight (occasionally) reveals the nasty creatures — bent on your destruction — that lurk along the path. What's more, even if you manage to collect a bit of the booty, a "dastardly, antisocial" pickpocket is waiting to intercept you.

As a text adventure, Zork is unrivaled. For instance, you can choose to skip familiar, already trodden passages. Complete sentences — not pidgin — two-word commands, steer you through the underground empire. Zork's playing features and detailed, witty responses are surpassed only by Infocom's more recent games, Deadline and Suspended (not to mention Zork II and III.)

Some adventures are more complicated, and some have fancy graphics, but Zork I is the one that changed adventuring from a computer novelty into sophisticated entertainment.

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