~3 minute readSneak Peeks
Return to Zork
If Zork means more to you than a heavy metal rhyme for dork, chances are you've been around the game-playing block a couple of times. One of the first adventures, the ancient, text-based Zork and its successors eschewed on-the-screen graphics for images generated by the world’s most powerful computer - your imagination. Today, with colors rampant and high-res displays de rigueur, text adventures are as extinct as Jurassic’s diplodocus.
Or not. More than fifteen years after its first release, Zork returns, literally, in Activision’s Return To Zork. And it ain’t text, baby.
If you’re worried that this reprise may have missed the mark in capturing that inimitable style we grew up on, relax. Return To Zork has all the humor, puzzles, and frivolity of the originals, and then some.
INNOVATIVE INTERFACE
Like a nightmare, your quest begins with one big question: What's going on here? Finding the answer is what Return To Zork is all about.
As the story opens, 700 years after Beyond Zork, you find yourself the winner of a sweepstakes: a four-day vacation in the Valley of the Sparrows. But it doesn’t take long to figure out that it's no Club Med - the first sign you see reads Valley of the Vultures.
Graphically speaking, Return to Zork is gorgeous. High-res stills complemented by occasional animated overlays makes for a visually satisfying game, even on the floppy disk version. (The same-priced CD-ROM version boasts digital video of the actors, in addition to the simulated lip-sync found in the floppy version.)
Navigation through this world is less impressive in some ways, innovative in others. Don't expect something akin to Origin’s Ultima - Underworld approach here - Return forgoes a true three-dimensional perspective for a more traditional connective tissue of one-screen-at-a-time presentation. Still, Zork breaks new ground, for unlike other adventures, it provides an unobstructed, full-screen view of what’s in front of you.
Except for the times you'll type in saved game names and copy protection passwords, Return operates with points and clicks. Forward, turn around, left, right, up, and down are represented by arrow pointers when those directions are possible, and commands appear only when you need them. Click on an object to bring up a conditional, floating palette of buttons, where, depending on what you've clicked, — the options may include everything from Look At to Take. The right mouse button calls up your inventory, and a double-click on an object picks it up. To use that object, just click on a person or thing.
Talk to a character, and a row of conversation buttons appears at the side of the screen. You can even steer conversations by changing mood from friendly to angry. And there’s lots of chatter in Return to Zork. Over an hour of conversation inhabits the game, with each character speaking in a realistic voice.
Keeping track of so much information is simplified by yet another interface innovation: A handy pop-up digital recorder, which automatically records conversations relevant to the story. VCR-style controls make playback a breeze. You're also equipped with an instant camera, that when used, pastes a picture in your photo album. Later, you can use both the tape and the photos to drag more information from characters you meet.
All told, Return To Zork excites, captivates, frustrates, and satisfies old friends of the original Zork, and has a good shot at capturing a huge chunk of fresh adventure meat. That's good, because after expending so much effort - on Activision’s part, and on ours - we can only hope that Return To Zork marks the beginning of a whole new series. The prodigal son of adventures has returned, all dressed up and with plenty of places to go.
Activision; 11440 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049; (310) 207-4500; IBM PC or compatible (20MHz 386 or faster); 600K free — RAM (supports XMS and EMS if available); VGA; requires at least 23MB of hard disk space; $79.95
This article appeared in
PCGames
Nov 1993
More info about:
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
