Enchanter

The Good
The introduction of magic made a huge difference. It was always so exciting to find a new spell and to test its abilities on your surroundings. My favourite remains using the nitfol spell on the frogs in the pond and then following their advice to look under the lily pad where you find "a slightly damp scroll". Or the use of the zifmia spell to summon the actual Infocom programmers into the game universe. Brilliant.

The Bad
Like most Infocom games, I found this one impossible to complete without help.

One example: I was always using kulcad to dispel the rope bindings from the jewelled box which contained some spell (I forget which). Because it worked I assumed I had found the solution, but had no way of knowing that if I "ozmooed" myself and allowed me to be sacrificed in the temple, I would regenerate with a magic knife that could cut the rope bindings.

ACTUALLY, the ozmoo spell was my biggest gripe. The only way to find it is to ditch your light source and enter the gallery. Well, I wasn't stupid enough to frotz the lantern and carry it around as a lightsource - why bother? I had found a better solution and just frotzed myself. One less item to carry. Which meant, unless someone had advised me as to the ruination I was reeking on my ability to win by doing so, I would never have been able to find that spell, and never able to beat the game.

Oh, and what is the filfre spell good for? I finally beat the game but had no use for this ostensibly powerful spell.

The Bottom Line
An extremely fun but oh-so-vastly tricky text game from the masters of the genre.

The Good
This was one of the first, if not the first, adventure games I have played, on my Amiga back in 80's. I was into it for more than 2 months, addicted so much I wouldn't even eat. The plot is rather nice, but the best part is the puzzles. You have to find and use quite a few spells and make others do things for you ( I miss the turtle dearly.. ).

The Bad
The game is a bit hard, especially once you are close to the end. There are a few not-so-logical puzzles/problems you have to overcome.

The Bottom Line
If you like adventure or RPG games you just have to play this game, along with all other Infocom classics that is.

The Good
This game lets players learn Spells, which allows them to solve puzzles. This concept gives a subtle difference between you changing the world, or just using items to change the world.

The Bad
The story was not as memorable as other Infocom games.

The Bottom Line
Zork with spells. But that's a good thing.