by Inform
You"ll. have grand time with "Zork"
By Elise Guns, Special to the Houston Chronicle
Zork adventures, welcome home. Zork: Grand Inquisitor brings back the dorky humor.
The first Zork adventure game was rated 20 years ago. It was text-only. Players stumbled around an underground magic
empire, solving puzzles, searching for treasure, armed with a few select items, most notably a brass lantern.
There was only one thing to fear: the dark. If you foolishly chase to tarry where there was no light, you would invariably be
eaten by a "grue" and die a horrible and slobbery death. You learned to save your games before entering any unfamiliar
situation, because death was , well, a way of life.
The first Zork was goofy and addictive, full for Monty Python-like scenarios and snide remarks about your adventuring
abilities. When the first graphic version, Return to Zork, appeared in 1993, fans cracked the box with both anticipation and
trepidation, hoping it was true to the text.
It was. Return to Zork had the same mix of silliness and puzzle-solving that made Zork a classic adventure game series and
kept its fans up too late.
The next in the series, Zork Nemesis didn't seem to fit. It looked and felt more like Myst than Zork. It was like being served
fish with a fancy sauce when you were in the mood for barbecue. It was elegant and challenging, full of gorgeous graphics -
but it wasn't silly.
with Zork: Grand Inquisitor, the designers once again have kept their tongues firmly wedged in their checks.
Zork: Grand Inquisitor comes with a handy timeline of all the major events in the history of the Zork. One notation from 353
GUE (Great Underground Empire) reads, "Yoruk of Galepath is born. His first couple of years as a mashed potato merchant
are incredibly boring, consisting largely of selling and trading mashed potatoes.
System Requirement
Like many of the really good gaming titles, this is a based program that most likely will require some knowledge of
to get up and running.
| Return to: | Title (Click on title for Review) | Publisher | Ages | Media | Price |
| Return to Zork | Inform | 10-Up | CD DOS | $7.99 |
