Return to Zork - Infocom RRP œ45.99
          (Graphic adventure for PC and CD-ROM)

        CD-ROM version reviewed by John Betteridge

Whilst browsing round my local PC Supermarket the other week, my
eye was caught by the CD-ROM selection of Computer Games. Having
recently upgraded my machine with Multi-Media I thought I would
give it a try and on the spur of the moment I bought RETURN TO
ZORK. (How's about that for impulse buying!).

The Box proclaimed it as "A truly amazing next-generation product
of unparalleled quality and technical excellence." "Adventure
game of the year." (It didn't say which year.) "A mesmerising
interactive adventure of danger, cunning and intrigue.." etc etc.

Once home I found the box contained a book entitled "Encyclopaedia
Frobozzica" (in French, German and, thankfully, English),
registration card, Installation Booklet, Adverts for Infocom, and
of course the CD-ROM Disc.

Having read the installation details I was rather dismayed at
first to be informed that the program worked better if all the
files were loaded to the hard disc. But as this would take up a
massive 42MB I decided against it.

After installation of the necessary files I crossed my fingers and
tried to start it from the Windows Icon, only to be told that the
Pif file wasn't large enough. So I returned to DOS to start it
from there, again the message loomed up.  "Not enough memory."

Now I'm rather proud of my 486DX machine with its 4MB memory,
100MB Hard disc and latest DOS version. To be told that you don't
have enough memory was downright depressing. So back to the
installation guide which said that it must have a minimum of 580K
base memory to work.

I spent all one Sunday fiddling with the Autoexec.bat and
Config.sys to get all my TSRs into upper memory until finally,
with a crash of thunder the opening screen hove into view and I
watched, fascinated, as the screen credits rolled on and listened
to the catchy music.

After what seemed like ages the game started and I was away. If
you don't want to see the opening credits, press F3 and you are
into the Load-Save Game screen.

You move through the scenes as if you were the camera and
everything is controlled with the mouse. Arrows appear when you
want to change direction and a click on an object will get it,
giving you the chance to examine it, put it in your inventory or
drop it. If you don't do that then the mouse pointer changes to an
icon of the object which you can use to interact with other
objects or characters.

If you move the pointer to the top left of the screen, the pointer
changes to a floppy disk icon, click, and a control panel appears
to give you the options of loading, saving, quitting, turning off
the music and stopping the walkthrough.

All the characters you meet are fully animated. You are given the
chance to talk to them, from highly fascinated to quite boring,
in order to get different responses, also you can question them
about your inventory. Getting punched by Rebecca Snoot when you
surprise her in the Bathroom, is quite interesting, and having a
drink with Old Boos Myller is rather fun.

An innovation I like is the camera and the tape recorder. As you
move through the game you can photograph scenes and show them to
the characters in the hope of an informative reply. The tape
recorder will play back all the speech you have heard so far.

Wandering through the Whispering Wood Maze took a bit of getting
used to. The Left, Right and Reverse Arrows only turn you on the
spot and you only move ahead on Forward Arrow.

The Puzzles are clever and well thought out. I got a lot of
satisfaction in solving them - well, those I have solved so far.
My Score at present is 75 out of 225 so I reckon it will take me
another couple of months to finish it.

As yet, I'm not completely satisfied with this kind of
adventuring. Call me old fashioned but I think a well written Text
Adventure can conjure up better pictures in the mind than the
limited, boxy graphics of this type of game ever could. But I
shall persevere, one step closer to virtual reality for the home
Computer.












                              - o -