<!--
	Title: (REVIEWS) Border Zone
	Author: Scott Thomas
	Source: COMPUTE!, v10(5)
	Date: May 1988
	Transcription by Steve Derby
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*Border Zone*, a new interactive text game, brings the intrigue of international
espionage to your computer and key board. As the main character, you are
involved in an assassination plot in the mythical Eastern Bloc nation of Frobnia.
Danger is around every corner, deception is practiced by everyone.

Tongue in cheek, Infocom includes several nondisk materials with the program,
aimed at helping you get into the story as well as providing information
for your quest. These items include a Frobnia Tourist Guide and Phrasebook,
a business card, a matchbook, and a map of the Frobnia/Litzenburg border.

<figure class="float-left-narrow">
	<img src="/public/img/articles/compute-border-zone-review/border-zone-cover.jpg" alt="Border Zone cover">
	<figcaption>Play three different characters in Infocom's new all-text adventure of
		intrigue and assassination.</figcaption>
</figure>

Ironically, these materials combine with the detail and richness of the dialogue
and story to create a colorful picture of a drab and stoic country.
The game itself is all text. Frankly, I have found it hard to play text-only
games since the advent of games such as *The Pawn* from Firebird, which
mixes graphics with text. I like the added element of visual stimulation
that occasional graphics provide. But Infocom has stuck with its philosophy
of exercising your mind, not your senses.

*Border Zone*, though, breaks new ground for the company in several respects.
To begin with, the program is divided into three self-contained
chapters. Each chapter permits you to play a different character in the story's
central, assassination-oriented plot.

Chapter One places you in the shoes of an easygoing American businessman
returning from a trip behind the Iron curtain. Your quiet train trip is
interrupted by a wounded, on-the-run American spy. You find yourself involved
in an assassination plot, confronted by a dangerous KGB officer. In
Chapter Two, your character is the wounded American agent whose assignment
is to stop the assassination. Chapter Three gives you the role of the KGB
officer.

This three-scenario approach is both interesting and satisfying. I have
often wondered what a particular text game would be like from another perspective.
*Border Zone* gives the opportunity to see a story from more than
one point of view.

Perhaps more important, the game takes place in realtime, adding to the
suspense of the story. Time is constantly ticking away in the upper right corner
of the screen. Unlike other text adventures that progress only as you give responses.
*Border Zone*'s story moves along without your help. Unless you invoke
the PAUSE command, things happen in the story, and to you. Time is
of the essence during all three of the scenarios, and realtime progression of
the story is guaranteed to produce sweaty palms.

Another new technique for Infocom is *Border Zone*'s online hints.
Every adventure gamer has at one time or another been tempted to buy a hint
book. Not this time: *Border Zone*'s hints are provided as part of the program.
A simple command takes you to a menu where you retrieve hints for
various points in the story. Once you select the topic, you're given increasingly
revealing clues.

Border Zone has a smart parser, the vocabulary-driven interface that lets
you communicate with the program. The game has an 800-word vocabulary,
and it recognizes multiple objects with certain verbs. You can include several
sentences on one line. If a command is unclear, the program either makes an
assumption or questions you to resolve the ambiguity. With the special OOPS
command, you can save yourself from retyping an entire sentence because of
one mistake. For example, if your command was PUT THE BOK ON THE
TABLE, you could correct it by typing OOPS BOOK.

*Border Zone* is a well done, interesting, and challenging text adventure.
It is an intelligent program with an advanced parser. The realtime game progression
and the opportunity to portray different characters in the plot set
*Border Zone* apart from other text ad ventures and make it an attractive entertainment
for either advanced text gamesters or entertainment novices.

<div class="article-sidebar-box">

<span class="larger">**Border Zone**</span><br>
**For...**<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;Apple II — $39.95<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;Commodore 64/128 — $34.95<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;IBM PC and compatibles — $39.95<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;Macintosh — $39-95<br>
**From...**<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;Infocom<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;125 Cambridge Park Drive<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;Cambridge, MA 02140<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;(617)492-6000

</div>