Return to Zork

(Activision, 1993)

This controversial game put the classic text adventure series into the mouse-only, graphic adventure world. The result was, both at once, a great interactive movie yet not quite as "classic" as the text adventures of the same name. At the very least, puzzles were far better than most other adventure "puzzles" released in the early '90s. It was also fun to see depictions of classic Zork locales for the first time. The classical music score was excellent as well, and your newfound friend in the game, played by A.J. Langer (most recently in ABC's "It's Like...You Know" sitcom) was fun to see over and over. Other cameos include a fairy played by Robyn Lively, and a hunter played by Sam Jones (1980's Flash Gordon). However, the animation for the regular PC version was pretty horrid, and is almost slide-show bad. This was because the game design team, for the PC version, spent more time on making an MPEG version of the game for the over-rated "Reel Magic" card (one of the first attempts to bring video-quality, full screen video to the PC). The MPG version was far superior to the aformentioned "regular" PC version, with still pictures showing characters whose mouths moved...barely! However, the Mac version, "Quicktime Enhanced," was great...and this game's rating is based on that better version. Hunt up this version for your iMac!

Rating : Large Crater.

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