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	Title: (Adventure) Wishbringer
	Source: Zzap!64, #10
	Date: February 1986
	Transcription by Steve Derby
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*Infocom, £36, 16, disk only*

This is the latest offering from the Infocom label and, like all their
other games, is disk-only.

Where it differs from previous Infocom releases, however, is in the level of
play. *Wishbringer* is aimed fairly and squarely at the inexperienced adventurer.

That's not to say, however, that veteran Wizards won't get a few
thrills out of it. Ol' Whitey has been at it for a few nights now,
and I'm afraid the bad news is that here is another expensive Infocom
game that I've just GOT to have in my collection!

*Wishbringer* puts you in the role of a young postman in the sleepy
seaside town of Festeron. Delivering a letter to the proprietress of
the local Magicke Shoppe, you find yourself drawn into another
dimension of magic and evil as you endeavour to rescue her cat
from the Evil One. To aid you in your quest, you have the Stone of
Dreams which enables you to cast seven spells in your defence.

The spells are for rain, advice, flight, darkness, foresight, luck,
and freedom from imprisonment. Most can only be used once, and
all require that certain other conditions be met before they will
work. For example, you can only cast the foresight spell if you're
wearing glasses.

Interesting features of the program include a number of aids to
the novice adventurer. For example, the program begins by flashing
up What now? before each input prompt. After a while, the
What now? prompt is omitted, and the program flashes up a little
message to say that you won't be seeing it from then on, since it's
assumed that you know when to enter commands.

Similarly, certain location descriptions are worded in such a way
as to prompt the player to make the correct decisions. Locations
that it is wise to enter are described as having doors that are 'invitingly'
open, and so on. You might think that this would give the
game away, but you needn't worry -- the puzzles are still just as
logical and, in one or two cases, just as tricky as other Infocom
adventures.

The trouble with *Wishbringer* (and with all recent Infocom
games) is that there isn't much I can say about it! I can't tell you
about the vocabulary problems, because there aren't any. I can't
tell you what sort of inputs it will accept, because I'd run out of
space. I can't tell you the plot because it would spoil the fun, and
besides, the text is so richly written that to try and condense it
into a review would be meaningless.

As an example of interaction within the game, try this. You
encounter a very unpleasant little poodle on your travels, and getting
past it can be quite a problem. After the White Wizard had had
his ego thoroughly damaged by the little monster, he typed 'Kick
the poodle' in desperation. 'Are you kidding!?' replied the program.
'This poodle is MEAN!' And that's just one example of a whole
host of responses that really lift this (and other Infocom games)
into the league of all-time classics.

*Wishbringer* is yet another example of brilliant design and
programming. It makes one wonder whether British companies, used
to cassette-based games for so long, will ever catch up when we
all move over to using disks. It's pricey, but even so it's still
recommended to all in search of mystery and imagination.

<p class="larger" style="font-weight: bold;">Atmosphere 95%<br>
Interactions 95%<br>
Lasting Interest 88%<br>
Value For Money 77%<br>
Overall 85%</p>
