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	Title: (Adventure) Plundered Hearts
	Source: Zzap!64, #33
	Date: January 1988
	Transcription by Steve Derby
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*Infocom disk only £24.95*

Touch my ring... no not that one, the red one... and journey back
with me to the 17th Century, a cold, cruel yet romantic era
when the mastery of the sea was in the hands of the Pirate. To the days
of raping, pillaging and scurvy, when the very sight of the Skull
and Crossbones gripped the bravest of seamen's hearts with
terror. These were the days when the mere whisper of the name The
Falcon, scourge of the seven seas, would send the most gallant of
crews and their ships scuttling back to port in abject fear. It is into
this period of history that this latest adventure from Infocom
takes you, to fight and survive as best you can... in the guise of a
woman...

The fact that in *Plundered Hearts* the player is a female is by no
means the disadvantage it might seem (given the era in which it is
set); the idea works very well as it requires the heroine to use her
brain rather than brawn. It also adds more danger and intrigue to
the story, taking into account how women were looked upon and
treated in sixteen hundred and whatever, especially by those with
less than honourable intent.

The packaging contains the usual Infocom extras which relate
to the story, this one has a 50 guinea note and a letter from
Jean Lafond explaining why the adventure opens on the schooner
Lafond Deux bound for the West Indies. It appears that your father
is very ill and needs you by his side to aid his recovery. Of course you
do not hesitate in setting off immediately. Unfortunatley,
before the ship can reach its destination it's attacked by pirates
captained by none other than the dreaded Falcon, and you are
kidnapped and taken aboard his vessel.

However, it turns out that Captain Nick Jamison (The
Falcon) is not the evil man rumour would have one believe. Indeed, it
transpires that this tall, lean, handsome buccaneer (with azure
eyes!), has actually saved you from the apparently nefarious plans of
Lafond. It seems the letter was a ploy to get you within the slimy
grasp of this mad Frenchman who, The Falcon reveals, has captured
your father and is holding him prisoner within his mansion on
the island of Sinistra. Nick hands you a missive, signed by your
father, which confirms this story and even begs your help in
rescuing both him and his lover Lucy. The task becomes clear, you
must reach Sinistra, save your father and Lucy and thwart the
devilish plans of Lafond.

Nick leaves the ship supposedly safely anchored off the shores of
Sinistra and sets off to deal with Lafond. However if your place in
the plot was to let him do all the work it wouldn't be much of an
adventure. Your first task is to save the ship from the dastardly
sabotage efforts of one of The Falcon's crew, who is a spy in the
employ of Lafond, a particularly nasty piece of work -- even by
piratical standards -- using the name of Crulley. He has raised the
anchor in an effort to have the tide dash the ship against a reef, and lit
a fire in the ammunition hold just ot make sure. A cool head and
logical thought is required to get past the pirates on deck (who are
not gentlemen by any stretch of imagination and would do
disgusting pirate type things to you should they see you) and save the
ship. Once accomplished, the way to shore is a barrel of laughs.

*Plundered Hearts* is a wonderful adventure, bursting at the seams
with atmosphere, interesting puzzles and tense situations. I
sometimes found it hard to remember that I wasn't playing in
real-time and was typing furiously to try my ideas out before coming
a cropper. Full of those little 17th Century quirks such as squeezing
laudanum into the evil Count's drink, swinging on chandeliers,
finding secret passages and buckling your swash at every one
wearing a patch, *Plundered Hearts* is a masterpiece of ambience and
action.

There are a couple of irritations in the game, for example typing
SEARCH CABIN creates the response: 'You can't search a
quarters' and inputting LOOK THROUGH THE CURTAINS
awards the player with the reply: 'You can only tell the drapes is
closed...' (period inflection maybe?). And the reticule that
you carry around with you does seem to be very large indeed, able
to carry slabs of pork, clothes, powder horns and large keys with
no trouble at all. However, these idiosyncrasies do not detract from
the excellent gameplay, and since I think I have mentioned the
problem with the slow disk accessing before, the drawbacks of
*Plundered Hearts* are miniscule indeed.

author, Amy Briggs, recreated this period in our history by
reading romance novels and researching 17th Century
costumes and ships. Hence the believability of the game, its
accuracy and its attention to detail. This is Amy's first adventure for
Infocom, let us hope there are many more to follow.

<table class="larger" style="font-weight: bold;"><tbody>
<tr><td>Atmosphere</td><td>94%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interaction</td><td>91%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lasting Interest</td><td>81%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Overall</td><td>90%</td></tr>
</tbody></table>