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Zork: Grand Inquisitor

starstarstarstarstar
Released: 1997 Manufacturer: Activision
In Brief:
Funny, smart, self-referential puzzler is everything an adventure game should be.
Puzzle Quality: excellent Visuals: gorgeous Difficulty: moderate
Dramatic Effectiveness: terrific Ease of Interface: piece of cake
Zork: Grand Inquisitor knows me. It knows I sat for hours playing Infocom text games, typing "attack with feather" and "use fish with clock" desperately trying to find the magical combination that would cause the dragon to explode like a pinata releasing the key that would unlock the box containing the spell that would, well, would do something sooner or later, and it knows I've wielded a thousand glowing swords and lit a million brass lanterns, and it knows I want to do it all again and again. And it knows that we both know it's really silly.

Grand Inquisitor is a meta-adventure game, a game that both sums up and mocks all that's come before it. "You don't see lanterns like this anymore," the Indiana Jones-like adventurer tells you, "it's all flashlights now." The lamp can talk (why not?) and as you find your first scroll, says, its voice cracking, "I wish I had a camera." You try and hit a two-headed dragon with a letter opener, because nothing else is working, and he says "Sure, just try everything in your inventory." Inquisitor was written by people who know what you're going to do: they've done it themselves. And it's a game by people who think you should be in the Zork world from the second you insert the CD: installation is supplied by the "Frobozz Electric Zork Grand Inquisitor Installer" ("Failure to complete this procedure will cause odd and somewhat disconcerting events in the lives of you, your family, your friends and your pets.").

You mission is to save magic, now under the thumb of the Grand Inquisitor. Blaring loudspeakers warn you to floss and obey the state as curfew falls and the fearful populace won't give you refuge. Watch out for the cops (one of whom is played by Rip Taylor), one will say "read him his rights," and the other will open up and book and read "you have no rights." And if you die you will get an old-fashioned Infocom text game death, describing your demise in comical detail from an old-fashioned DOS prompt.

The puzzles are lots of fun, and mainly within my grasp. In fact, when I got stuck and had to cheat it was because I didn't realize something was a puzzle. (All the cheating I did: 4 of the puzzles, was right in the middle of the game. Once I started cheating I had trouble stopping again, which is why it's better to know someone who's played the game who can grudgingly spoon out clues).

Inquisitor's a nice looking game; not as pretty as Riven: The Sequel to Myst but at that level. You're not stuck look at static pictures for all of it, in many places you can pan around 360 degrees, which adds to the feeling of being immersed in another world. (It also means there's more places to look for things, meaning it's easy to miss stuff).

I can't say this is my favorite adventure game, which is probably Riven: The Sequel to Myst, but I will say that this is as good as any game that I've seen. Buy it now.

-- Charles Herold -1998