The Zork Review

A modern day review of a classic computer game

There is no denying that Zork is a classic, and for that reason alone it might be worth playing. But if not for its status as one of the most popular early text adventures for personal computers, what does Zork have to offer to today's gamer interested in trying their hand at a text adventure?

For those that don't know (game interface)

In Zork everything is text. You type in something like a complete sentence, and it responds in kind with one or two sentences relating how the story has advanced. Natural language processing may be hard in the real world, but Zork does a good job of understanding what you want to do, as long as you spell everything correctly. And because the interface is literally composed of writing any sentence you want, you can, at the very least, try anything, although you will quickly learn that Zork's response will be "you can't do that." unless you stick to the story.

So here is what's happening (the story)

Does Zork have a story? Well, sort of. You (the adventurer) want treasure for your display chest. There's this dungeon, and if you search around it enough you find bits of treasure for your trophy chest. That's it.

Compared to other text adventures, that's a very thin plotline. Motivation does not come from advancing the plot, but purely for the intellectual challenge of solving puzzles. Luckily, there are lots of puzzles, and most of them are logical, if hard.

What's it like? (game play)

Locations are sparely described, but fit together well, like some semblance of a real world. Missing from this world, however, are any sort of real characters that you can interact with. There are grues which will eat you if you don't have light, a thief which will randomly steal your hard won objects, and other cast extras, but they really have little to add to the game. What the game does have are puzzles, usually revolving around one or two objects, where one object is a tool that effects the other in a way that leads to or directly results in more treasure for your trophy chest. This all looks something like this:

You are standing on a path next to an abandoned white house. The path leads north and south. In front of the house is a mailbox. >look at mailbox. The mailbox is closed. >open it Opened. >look inside There is a note inside the mailbox. >Take note and read it. (Taken) The note reads as follows: Welcome to Zork, blah, blah blah...

Later on, more complex commands come into play like "cover treasure with pile of leaves", or "break glass with sledge hammer", and Zork responds in turn with sentences that are more than 5 words in length. Compared to other text adventures, however, Zork's language is always pretty terse and to the point.

Should I run out and buy it now? (conclusion)

Actually, you can get it for free; the current owner of Infocom's intellectual property released all the Zorks as promotional downloads. Later they quit selling the item they were promoting, but a search on the net for Zork will return lots of sites which still have the Zork I, II, and II games for download.

More importantly, is it worth your time? Here is why you should download Zork:

• It's a classic. Everybody should know what Zork was about, even if it is not the best of games.
• It's free.
• You can play it on your palm pilot.
• You like puzzles; plot line is just a boring waste of time.

On the other hand, playing Zork will not t really covey exactly what it is about text adventures that is missing from today's adventure games. This game could be easily presented using any one of the point and click interfaces of the last few years, such as in Day of the Tentacle, or Kings quest XXX, and little would be lost. The world, the characters, and the descriptions are just not rich enough.

On the other hand, good text adventures give you the chance to be the character, and interact with a story that you visually create in your head. Like reading a good book, this is not for everybody, since it is more work, but you get something for your work. No longer is the game about clicking randomly on oddly colored pixels, or watching hours of pre-rendered video. So my conclusion is that you should try a text adventure if you have not yet. But if your purpose includes fun as well as historical exploration, there are better games to try, such as Sorcerer, Planet Fall, The Lurking Horror, or The Leather Goddess of the Phobos.