Amiga

Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz

For about ten years after being formed by some MIT boffins Infocom produced only business software. Then they saw the Colossal Cave Adventure. The Zork trilogy was the result and the company has not look back since. Not until now that is. Currently making some radical changes to its previously text-only format Infocom have decided to produce a Zork prequel in the new style.

There are Zorks and there are Zorks, but now there is the latest Zork which is the first Zork: Zork Zero. Confused? Well, I certainly was. After famous Zork trilogy came Beyond Zork, and now the game which acts as a prequel to the originals has arrived. Bigger it certainly is; but is it any better for that?

Adventure characters do not come more legendary, stupid, or dead than Lord Dimwit Fathead The Excessive. The latest in the line of Zork adventures, Zork Zero, opens with his execution – for building a statue of himself of proportions so gigantic that its big toe overshadows the favourite forest of the all-powerful and well-narked Wizard Megaboz. Not only that but the malicious wiz has cast a demonic curse to obliterate the Eastlands. The onset of the curse has been delayed for some time – ninety-six years to be precise – but that time has elapsed and now, at the eleventh hour, you come into possession of the wiz’s secret parchment which sets you off on the quest – and a chance to reverse the spell.

MEGABOZ the wizard, wearing a zap-me-quick hat, has cursed Lord Dimwit Flathead’s Great Underground Empire. Your task is to remove the curse and claim a reward of half the wealth of the kingdom. After casting the curse, Megaboz disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind nothing but a scrap of parchment. Written on the parchment, which is contained in the pack of goodies that comes with the game, is what you need to do to remove the curse.

So bleibt zum Abschluß nur die Frage "Hit oder doch Hit?" Eine Frage, die natürlich ebenso wichtig wie beinahe überflüssig ist. Denn wenn es INFOCOM gelingt, auch weiterhin das Niveau zu halten, das man sich bisher erarbeitet hat, dann wird sich die Company um die Zukunft keine Sorgen machen müssen. Zumindest eingefleischte Fans wissen es schon längst, daß diese Firma als Maßstab für gute Adventures anzusehen ist, was Atmosphäre, Spannung und Parser anbelangt.