Zork Nemesis - Activision (Windows 95 or DOS graphic adventure) Review by Darkside of the Moon The name Zork always makes me look up and think back to my first Zork adventure, but it also makes me think of Return To Zork, which was not as great as I thought it would be, so when I saw Zork Nemesis in the shops I was not very sure, but eventually bought it anyway. Before I get into the game, let's get the technical part aside: Minimum system Requirements: -486 DX2 66Mhz -8MB Ram -Double Speed CD-Rom -35MB Hard disk space (if you select minimum install, 81 for maximum and better performance) -VESA or PCI video card capable of 16 bit high colour -Mouse -100% Soundblaster As you see at the top of this review, it both runs in DOS and Windows 95, however you are recommended to use Windows 95 because in DOS you won't have the ambient sounds and will miss some animation, another good reason to play it in Windows 95 is its auto play feature. Installing is again a breeze, whatever people may think of Windows 95, for newcomers to the PC it is brilliant, you put the CD in your CD-Rom, if you have a not-too-old CD-Rom it will support auto play and the game will be installed, the 'install shield' wizard will be launched and all you have to do is click a few buttons. Because the games uses this 'install shield' it means that if you want to remove the game you just do it with the help of 'add/remove' program in your control panel, no more searching for files all over your drive. No more changing your Autoexec files, no more boot disks, if it would only have been so easy when I got my 1st PC (still remembering how long it took me to install my 1st game...Clouds of Xeen) Zork Nemesis also uses DirectX, the new standard for games under Windows 95, if you already have it installed this part will be ignored, if not then DirectX will be installed and you need a re-boot. Once the game is installed you are ready to play, either by clicking on the icon on your desktop or by inserting the CD-Rom again, it detects that Zork is installed and instead of running the install program it will launch the game. Now enough of this and onto the game, you are greeted by a cool animation, leading you to the Temple of the Ancient, once you have seen the animation and are into the game it is wise to first read the diary of L. Bivotar where you will learn about the 'Nemesis' and your quest, which, in a nutshell, is to find 4 missing persons (who are dead), get the 4 elements and to reach the ultimate power "the Quintessence". You play the role of the son of L Bivotar, Karlok Bivotar........... As soon as you are into the game the first thing that will make you go 'ahh' is the graphics, it reminds you of Myst, 7th Guest and Lost Eden, the next thing that will make you go 'ahh' is the sound, the background sounds and music, together with the graphics they create and atmosphere that is incredible and so very real. But then you go really quiet when you want to move, moving in Myst was just going from 1 screenshot to another, moving in the 7th Guest was scrolling from 1 screen shot into another, Zork is a cross between both of them, by holding your mouse near the left or right edge of the screen you rotate around, a full 360 degrees, you can see the brilliant landscape around you in all its glory, moving forward is like in Myst, your mouse changes to an arrow pointing towards something and you click to step forward. Like Myst you then go to the next location, so you don't scroll there like in the 7th Guest, but it does not really matter, because of the fact you can rotate the game does not feel so static like Myst, and because you can rotate it means you can accesses certain areas from different angles giving you not that pre-rendered route feeling you have in the 7th Guest. The interface is very easy, the mouse pointer changes to an arrow to move or a hand to use, you get used to this very quickly. In a way Zork Nemesis is a lot like Myst, it has puzzles and riddles, it is not a true adventure game in the sense that you have lots of object to manipulate with lots of other objects etc. etc., you can carry a lot of objects, but I never found a puzzle that needed more than 2 items to be carried and used, but don't think it is just a puzzle game like Myst, in a way it is much more. And the game is difficult, it is NOT something you finish in a few days, It comes on 3 CDs and they are really stuffed with brilliant graphics and animations. The story line itself is also perfect, the further you get into the game the more you learn and discover about how it REALLY went, maybe the 4 were telling the truth or maybe not........ There is a on-line help in the game, but me feeling brave clicked on the option to not include this help in the game when I was asked during installing, now I sometimes wish I had, but I can't find a way to get it back, and I don't want to re-install and lose my save games, so I guess I am stuck with it. I guess by now you must have figured out I love this game, I enjoyed Myst and the 7th Guest, but they never had me so involved as this game has, if you look at it from the side line it is just a puzzle game but once you're into it it grabs you much better then Myst ever did, it's not so static and cold as I found Myst to be. There is so much detail in the game, there must be dozens of pictures on the walls in the game, but none is the same and all are masterpieces, and it would not surprise me if it was real paintings that were scanned in. Again the music is brilliant, not just the effect but the background music too. In the monastery you hear the monks singing their songs in the background, slowly fading in and out. In the asylum you hear the screams of long ago, it is brilliant. single note: if you don't like blood and separate body pieces then maybe the asylum will give you some trouble, you have to separate a head from a body and use somebody else's arm. So to make a little score: Graphics 10/10 (see the screenshots) Sound 9/10 Enjoyment 9/10 Difficulty 9/10 Final Comment It's brilliant - o -