<!--
	Title: Reviews: Spellbreaker
	Author: Selby Bateman
	Source: COMPUTE!'s Gazette, v4(3) #33
	Date: March 1986
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

You are the enchanter. You are the wizard.

You've grown from apprentice to master sorcerer to the leader of the Circle of
Enchanters. After years of study, discipline, and hard work, you're at the
peak of your magical powers. And now, all around you, the magic is failing.

This is *Spellbreaker*, the final installment in Infocom's *Enchanter* fantasy
trilogy. For those who've struggled happily through the first two programs,
*Enchanter* and *Sorcerer*, *Spellbreaker* is a fitting climax. It's an
expert-level game for the Commodore 64,tougher than both previous adventures.
Those new to Infocom's brand of interactive fiction would be well advised to
start elsewhere —- perhaps with the original *Enchanter*, a standard-level
fantasy game —- then work their way up to this. In the future, Infocom's
designers will have to go a long way to create a more difficult and intriguing
text adventure.

*Spellbreaker* opens with you standing amidst a congregation of Guildmasters
in the Council Chamber of the Guild Hall at Borphee. All of the Guildmasters
are looking to you to explain why the magic of the land has begun to fail.
*Gloth* spells won't fold baker's dough for pastries anymore. *Fripple* spells
fail to contain wild animals. And even the locally brewed beer, without
benefit of magic, tastes more like cherry soda. But before you can begin to
ask your questions, everyone in the crowd except you and a sinister cloaked
figure is turned into a frog, toad, salamander, or newt. Good luck. You're on
your own.

As with Infocom's other adventures, *Spellbreaker* uses a very sophisticated
parser, the portion of the program that breaks down your English commands and
questions into components that the game can process. You can communicate with
the program in complete sentences, even stringing together more than one
action as long as the command is no longer than two lines of text. The game's
puzzles —- the heart of the action —- are complex, making previous experience
in the *Enchanter* trilogy a definite plus.

You're in possession of a magical spell book that's been a source of great
power. Belboz the Necromancer gave it to you years ago in a previous
adventure. But now, with the magic failing, many of the spells have faded from
the pages. And those that remain you must relearn before using. Even the
remaining spells frequently short circuit: Instead of writing a magic spell,
your fingers simply grow numb; smoke clouds mushroom as another spell fizzles
in the air.

There are other items of importance as well. Extremely rare spell scrolls dot
the kingdom, giving you the power to use new spells or add them to your spell
book for continued use. A magic burin lets you inscribe objects with words or
runes that have magical power. And of course there are the spells themselves:
*lesoch*, to generate a gust of wind; *jindak*, to detect magic; *yomin*, to
probe someone's mind; and a variety of other incantations, some useful and
some not. Learning how and when to cast spells is one of the keys to
proceeding through the kingdom to find out who's stealing the magic.

*Spellbreaker* is the work of Dave Lebling, co-author of the popular ZORK
series of adventures and of *Enchanter*. He also created the *Starcross*
and *Suspect* Infocom adventures. With *Spellbreaker*, Lebling has written his
most complex and mature work of interactive fiction. In today's computer
adventure, lands of enchantment are a dime a dozen; but Lebling has created a
more forbidding landscape of intrigue —- a kingdom whose very foundations are
suddenly suspect. The staff of magic is full of worm holes, and to lean on it
too heavily is to risk its collapse.

With *Spellbreaker*, Infocom has extended its reputation for literate,
engaging, often perplexing, and always challenging interactive fiction. Even
the packaging, wilh its slick "Frobozz Magic: Magic Equipment Catalog" (a
subsidiary of Frobozzco International) is firstrate. Now, the legions of
Infocom fans will once again have to set aside careers, families, friendships,
and hobbies until the kingdom is safe.

*Infocom, Inc.<br>
125 Cambridge Park Dr.<br>
Cambridge, MA 02140<br>
$44.95*
