Zork: Grand Inquisitor

The Good
This is the cream of the crop when is comes to great humor and a good short story that I love to share with novice adventurers to get them hooked. You do not have to play any of the other dozen empire related games in order to understand the plot. Yes you can get killed during dangerous parts of the game but if you use your wits you can stay alive to enjoy the fun puzzles like the scratch ticket, the courtesy phone, the secret mirror room, the totemizer machine, a strip grue fire and water challenge, and even the famous "white house" from the original zork 1 adventure.

The Bad
Zork Grand Inquisitor was one on the first to have built in LAN or MODEM linked play feature so you play online with a friend and TAUNT your partner if they were getting lost in the adventure. The game came out around 1998 and since then there is no way to get that feature to function. You can also see that this came was cut short by Activision and many parts of the empire were cut out. The game got rave reviews and was very popular winning all kinds of award but sadly this would be the last Zork adventure leaving its wide fan base stone cold.

The Bottom Line
You start out above the great underground empire during curfew and need to find your way down into the darkness with 3 items, a lantern, a sword and a spell book. Along your journey you meet Charon, Harry, Dalboz, Anthara Jack and a two headed monster. The lantern serves as your guide and if confused with answer every question you might have with a touch of humor and many puns. The game uses a point and click (inventory) and 360 degree viewing. Set up is quite easy and you can save and come back to the game later. There are some good cut scenes like all adventures but listening to the voices of Lenny and Squiggy tip the comedy scales.