<!--
	Title: (Critically Speaking...Multi-Systems) Trinity
	Source: Computer Entertainer, v5(6)
	Date: August 1986
	Transcription by Steve Derby
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**TRINITY (NA / ⭐⭐⭐⭐)** is the second piece of Interactive
Fiction Plus, the new line of text adventures that features an
expansion of ***<u>Infocom's</u>*** original development system,
allowing for larger program size and more extensive
vocabulary. The world of TRINITY, a standard-level fantasy, is
indeed vast -- larger than all three of the "Zork" programs
combined, according to author Brian Moriarty. And it is a rich
world that combines fantasy with real, historical events for
the first time ever in a work of interactive fiction. TRINITY
takes place in the near future and centers around what is
probably the single most significant scientific development of
our time: the unleashing of the power of the atom and
subsequent development of atomic weaponry. While that
sounds like pretty serious stuff for an entertainment program --
and it is -- the game contains enough magic, puzzles, humor,
and downright absurdity to keep it from being heavy or
depressing.

## *Sightseeing in London*

<img class="float-right" src="/public/img/articles/ce-trinity-mini-review/trinity-packaging.jpg" alt="Trinity packaging">

The game begins on a pleasant day in London, where you
are a tourist who is spending the final afternoon of your $599
package tour wandering through Kensington Gardens. As you
soak up the atmosphere, British nannies push their
perambulators through the park, pigeons flutter around an old
woman feeding them bread crumbs, and children sail boats in a
pond. You come across a sundial in one section of the park.
(It looks rather like the sundial in your TRINITY package. If
that isn't enough to tell you that the sundial is a very
important element in the story, then you just can't take a
hint!) Everything seems the picture of sunlit serenity, but it's
not. The superpowers are about to start World War III, and a
hydrogen bomb will soon be dropped on the city. Your only
escape is through a mysterious white door that appears if you
reach the right place at the right time. Enter that door, and
you will step into a very strange realm where fact and fantasy
intermingle, a field of giant toadstools with more white doors.
This place, described by Moriarity as a "Grand Central Station
of the universe," is a sort of mystical network where all the
atomic explosions that have ever occurred are connected.

## *Atomic Explosion Sites*

If you can solve the puzzle of how to open and close the
white doors in the toadstools, you will be able to travel to the
sites of a variety of different atomic explosions, and even live
to return and tell about your experience! This is your chance to
step into history at a number of critical points and influence
the outcome of real events. The sites you can visit include
Nagasaki, Japan, the steppes of Russia, an underground test
site, a tropical atoll, the outer space "Star Wars" of the
Strategic Defense Initiative, and, finally, the TRINITY site
itself. You will arrive at the TRINITY site on the White Sands
Missile Range in New Mexico at 5:00 am on July 16, 1945.
It is 30 minutes before the explosion of the first atomic bomb
in history, and what happens next is up to you.

## *Exceptionally Well Written*

Like WISHBRINGER, Brian Moriarity's first effort for
Infocom, TRINITY is exceptionally well written. It's as
satisfying from a literary standpoint as it is from a role
playing gamer's view. (Moriarty acknowledges intentional
parallels to Lewis Carroll's *Alice in Wonderland* in his story
and he underlines them with appropriate quotes scattered
through the game.) The concept of TRINITY is unusual and
daring, and Moriarty manages a delicate balance between the
seriousness of his subject and the need to keep the player
entertained. He has written a game that draws the player into
the action beautifully. The prologue of the game in
Kensington Gardens is somewhat easier to master than some
standard-level programs from Infocom. By the time the game
becomes more difficult, you are hopelessly involved in the
story and couldn't possibly think of giving up. We recommend
this one without reservation to anyone looking for something
truly original in interactive fiction. (Solo play; Keyboard;
Available for Amiga, 128K Apple II, Atary ST, Commodore
128, IBM PC/PCjr, and 512K Macintosh.

**Recommended.** (MSR $39.95)
