T-ZERO : An Adventure for the Time Being
             by Dennis M Cunningham - SynTax PD 286
                   (Text adventure for the PC)

                    Reviewed by Neil Shipman

               "Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
                Bears all its sons away."           - Isaac Watts

Not one of the various quotations used in T-Zero but, as I come
to write this review, it somehow seems appropriate because I
found myself completely carried away with this supremely well-
crafted adventure in time from American author Dennis Cunningham.

'A dream came to you as you tossed uneasily upon an unfamiliar
bed. In your dream, a time-worn figure waved a scythe in slow
arcs across your sky-blue field of vision and picked, out of thin
air, letters from a runic alphabet. The sky-writing from the
scythe crystallized in icy trails as a new letter materialized
with each sleeping breath your dream encompassed. When the
message was complete, the entire sky was slivered with shining
icicles that spelled in full:

     "Somewhere scattered across ages and landscapes are
      six enticingly round objects that you must locate
      and somehow transport to progressively future time
      zones where they can be manipulated in a fashion that
      will right the troubled times."

As you deciphered the message, the icicles shattered in a brittle
and sparkling avalanche. You tossed some more and awaited your
awakening . . .'

This prologue to the adventure is contained in a voluminous
document file on the disk. This is essential reading as it not
only tells you your objective, it also presents you with a verb
and synonym list together with a guide to the numerous special
commands. Information on registering this shareware (which you
can do for just œ12 through Graham Cluley in the UK) is also
included.

At the start of the adventure you wake up on the bank of a river.
You recall that two nights ago Count Zero (Boo! Hiss!) dismissed
you from your job as museum custodian/librarian and took your
latchkey. However, little did he know that you keep a spare one
hidden in the topiary. A quick check on your belongings shows
that you have a strange compass whose needle always points
towards the museum so it looks as if the Count is up to something
in there. You resolve to find out just what is going on.

After familiarising yourself with the landscape, particularly the
obelisk to the west, and picking up every object you can find, it
is worth taking a trip across the river via the suspension bridge
(here's where I first needed a hint) to talk to the Ragman. Solve
a couple of puzzles here and then head for the topiary maze.

Many players don't like mazes (though I generally like the
challenge) but this is a classic. Its layout was originally
designed by Robert Abbott for a Martin Gardner column in
Scientific American. The topiary figures are all strange, shape-
shifting creatures with names like thundergoyle, brontboon,
elepogaroo and hipporybdis. Somewhere in here is your spare key -
but it's not just lying around. (There's nothing like blowing
your own trumpet, but I got a real buzz of satisfaction when not
only did I figure out the route through the maze but also managed
to escape with the key!)

Once you are in the museum you will find it becomes possible to
travel to the past (which you may have already glimpsed through
looking in a slow mirror) and, ultimately, to the future. In the
past you find that the land is peopled by reptoids who, under the
control of Count Zero, are building the museum and the obelisk.
The way the locations differ from past to present to future is
well thought out. You soon realise that if you can't solve a
particular problem in the present then maybe you can do so in the
past. At the very least you could come up with something that
would help in a future time zone. Of course you then have the
difficulty of working out how to transport certain objects
through time because you cannot take everything with you when you
make the trip.

As you would expect, there are many references to time and things
associated therewith: an eggtimer, a pendulum, a stopwatch,
various clocks, a timecard and a sundial to name but a few. Time
normally advances 5 mins per move (but you can make it pass more
quickly) and the time, day and time zone are shown together with
the score and your current location on the status bar. Having the
maximum score as 365 is a nice touch.

I was very aware of the passage of time and, to start with, I
tried to get things done in the minimum number of days, thinking
that there must be an upper limit. But the implementation of some
of the more unusual commands like Where, Find, Copy and Imagine
appears to happen a certain number of moves after you've solved a
particular problem so it seems to pay if you let the days roll
on. I was up to Day 14 and over 3500 moves (many of them
unnecessarily repetitive) before I finished. The Find command is
particularly useful as it applies both to objects and locations -
provided you have already seen them.

Characterisation of the few individuals who people the adventure
is quite well done. As well as the Ragman you will meet a
blacksmith with a dreadlock hairstyle, an individual by the name
of Prufrock strolling along a beach, a hungry bank teller, and,
of course, the Count himself, all of whom should be listened to
and talked to. But it is the quality of the descriptive text and
the clever construction of many of the puzzles which stand out.

The standard of writing is exquisite and the author has a turn of
phrase which many text adventure writers would kill for. For
example; if you try to cross the river in the wrong place you
don't just get wet feet or drown or, worse, simply get the
response, "You can't do that!" What does Cunningham come up with?
"The rushing river runs in that direction, uncrossable, a rubicon
of dreams." And, to describe a flock of terns flying above your
head, how about, "They tirelessly twirl in a circular swirl."?
Marvellous!

The interface can be customised to your own preferences: there
are four colour schemes, brief/verbose, spaced/compressed text,
user-definable function keys, command recall and editing, shell
to DOS, log to file or script to printer, etc. Also, the cursor
keys can act as direction keys (which is particularly useful in
the maze). T-Zero has been programmed from scratch by the author
without the use of an adventure-writing utility like AGT or TADS.

I am an inveterate verb-noun player - after all, why type in more
than you have to? However, I tripped up more than once because of
this as a number of puzzles require a certain phrase or at least
four words rather than just two! Undoubtedly others will not find
this a problem and, in any event, we all get stuck in different
places. But T-Zero is a difficult adventure which I could not
have finished without the structured on-line hints which take
account of both your location and progress so far.

Dennis Cunningham considers himself - rightly so in my opinion -
as a programmer with literary leanings. The text adventure genre
is one which allows him to explore both avenues. Fully explored
they are too. This is an excellently programmed, extremely well-
written adventure and one which I wholeheartedly recommend to
anyone who appreciates writing of the highest quality and who is
looking for a challenge.

I made a point of playing it just before I bought a multimedia
CD-ROM system because I reckoned that once I had that I wouldn't
want to spend a lot of time looking at screenfuls of text. I'm
glad that T-Zero was the last one I spent a long time on because
it will remain in my memory as a great adventure and this will
undoubtedly help to lure me back to take a look at the all-text
genre on odd occasions in the future.









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