<!--
	Title: (CRITICALLY SPEAKING..) A Mind Forever Voyaging
	Source: Computer Entertainer, v4(10)
	Date: January 1986
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-left" src="/public/img/articles/ce-amfv-mini-review/amfv-packaging.jpg" alt="A Mind Forever Voyaging Packaging">

**A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING (NA / ⭐⭐⭐⭐)** is called
"Interactive Fiction Plus" by ***<u>Infocom</u>*** for its greatly
increased vocabulary and ease of communication. (This
comes at a price, however, since the program runs only on
computers with at least 128K RAM.) Written by Steve
Meretzky, this story of the 21st century casts you as PRISM,
the world's first truly sentient computer. Society in the
United States of North America, and indeed the entire world,
seems to be on a downward spiral. (Take all of the worst
that is happening in today's world, magnify it many times,
and that is the dreary picture painted in this scneario of the
year 2031.) Enter the Plan for Renewed National Purpose,
the drastic solution proposed by one Senator and a group of
society's leaders. Everyone wants to believe the Plan will
work, but there is only one way to be sure. PRISM will
embark on a simulation of the future, ten years hence, to
test the effects of the Plan. Now YOU are the mind of that
sentient computer on a mission to save humanity from itself.

## Life As a Computer

Being a computer, you (as PRISM) can operate in any of five
different modes: Communications, Library, Interface, Sleep,
and Simulation. Of these, Simulation is the most similar to
other interactive text games because you can move around
and manipulate objects in the environment. This is the mode
where the structure of the Plan is tested: PRISM essentially
records the future as it would be after enactment of the
Plan. Other modes allow PRISM to explore databases for
information (very useful), rest its mind, and interact with
other devices. Puzzles are kept to a minimum in this
program where exploration of the future is the key, and the
visions are fascinating. The concept of the program is
riveting -- perhaps because it's so totally believable. Science
fiction fans will barely come up for air once they become
immersed in this game. (Solo play; Keyboard.) Available for
Amiga, 128K Apple II, Atari ST, IBM PC/PCjr, 512K Macintosh.

Recommended. (MSR $44.95)
