New Zork Times, The, v2(2)

~1 minute read

Apr-Jun 1983

Infocom and Michael Berlyn: the perfect match

The critics consider Infocom's adventures the undisputed leaders in language handling ability and in the creativity and logic of the problems. As Margot Tommervik wrote in the March 1982 review of Zork II in Softalk:

"Zork II is a delight to play. A text adventure, it is of the high-quality, logic-loyal wing of that genre, populated only by such gems as the original Adventure, Zork, and Cyborg. Where Cyborg reached — and retains — the mountaintop in terms of plot and integration of player with adventure, Zork II joins Zork as the ultimate in text adventuring technique and communication."

"What?", you ask, "There's a game which threatens the supremacy of Zork?" Although Cyborg was very well received by the critics, many adventurers are not familiar with it since it was not distributed widely.

Cyborg was written by Michael Berlyn, an accomplished science fiction writer. (Michael is the author of Crystal Phoenix and The Integrated Man.) During the summer of 1982 he joined the staff at Infocom and has toiled since then on his best work to date: Suspended. You will find that Suspended thrusts you into a thoroughly believable and engrossing plot, with the creative problems and intelligent input you've come to expect in an Infocom game.

With Michael Berlyn's writing skills and Infocom's technology, how can you lose?

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