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	Title: (Award Winners) Infocom Sweeps Text Adventure Category
	Author: John Anderson
	Source: Creative Computing Software Buyer's Guide 1984
	Date: 1984
	Transcription by Steve Derby
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<img style="max-width: 100%;" src="/public/img/articles/cc-infocom-sweeps-text-adventure-category/infocom-games-banner.jpg" alt="Article banner with several Infocom game packages">

We gave a lot of thought to awarding medals in the category of text adventure.
A viable category, with respectable entries and respectable adherents. It seemed a
natural thing to do, except for one interesting fact —- all three medals would without
question end up going to one company.

Not to imply that this in itself would in any way influence our decision vis à vis a
text adventure medal category, mind you. If the U.S. can sweep in a few competitions
in the real Olympics, that will be fine with us. The problem was that while
we were unanimous in our praise for Infocom, acknowledged master creators of
the text adventure, we could not achieve a clear decision as to which package should
win which award. Infocom was simply too good —- they screwed up our system.
Some among us felt a strong desire to give them more than three medals. But
how can you give more than three medals without running out of metals?

The situation tested our mettle.

Hence a compromise. We will award no medals formally in this category; however,
we shall present Infocom with a plaque made of inlaid gold and silver on a
bronze pedestal. We dare not pick one Infocom package over another. However
we will allow the best of them to take a victory lap around the track, and give
you a wave.

*Enchanter* casts you as a rookie wizard bent on deposing the foul and beastly
warlock terrorizing the countryside. You have a beginner's book of spells, a mysterious
scroll, and not much more than a lot of enthusiasm with which to complete
your quest. If fantasy is your kind of game, *Enchanter*, along with the now classic
*Zork* series of adventures, are the names to remember.

*Infidel* welcomes you to the sunny Sahara, where your archaeological expedition
has deteriorated into a sandy fracas. Your bearers are getting surly,
needed equipment has failed to arrive, and you’re feeling slightly delerious. Maybe
you shouldn’t have intercepted the phone call to the real archaelogist and set out
with no experience. Will you find your way to the pyramid and the possible riches
that await you? Or will you end up running home to mummy?

*Planetfall* has the best sense of humor of any text adventure we have ever looked
at and has an extremely original plot line. The mystery of this one is enhanced by
the fact that the adventurer is not quite sure just what the objective of the game
is. Intergalactic postcards packed with the game dare you to mail them out.

*Starcross* leaves you floating in the depths of space without even a pod to pass in. If
you are lucky, you may find your way into a derelict space station the size of an
asteroid. Make some repairs to the ship or perish. Live, and treasures await
you—perhaps something even greater than material riches. And remember, when in
Wease, do as the weasels do.

*Suspended* gives you the dubious honor of serving as the “central mentality” of
Contra, a planet with some real problems. Using six rather moody robots, your job
is to repair the damage done by your predecessor, which has all but doomed
the planet. *Suspended* is the only Infocom adventure that comes with its own game
board and pieces, so you may keep track of your droids at all times. A tough game,
but a rewarding one.

*Witness* gets you to feeling as if you have been dropped right into a Raymond
Chandler movie from the mid 1940’s. Phong the butler knows more than he’s letting
on, and Monica is a desperate woman. Did Linder’s wife feign suicide, then murder
him? Perhaps that matchbook with a scribbled phone number on the inside cover
you found on the lawn holds the key to an answer.

See what we were up against? Get them all, and decide for yourself which gets the
platinum medal, and which gold, silver, bronze, magnesium, and aluminum
