<!--
	Title: (SOFTWARE GALLERY) Plundered Hearts
	Author: John Ryan
	Source: Run, v5(2)
	Date: February 1988
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<div style="color: #004488; font-weight: bold; padding: 0.25em; float: right; font-size: 2em;">B</div>

<blockquote style="margin: 1em inherit; font-size: 1.25em; font-style: italic;">Finally, A Woman's<br>
Romance Novel<br>
On the Computer Screen</blockquote>

Almost all adventure games ever created have been aimed at a traditionally
male-dominated market, on the assumption that women account for only
a small percentage of entertainment software purchases. With that being so,
Infocom's Plundered Hearts breaks out into new territory.

Plundered Hearts is designed by a woman, for women. The storyline is
reminiscent of a steamy romance novel set in the late 17th century. You play
the part of a beautiful young English woman who has just received a letter
from Jean LaFond, governor of the island of St. Sinistra and purported
friend of your father. LaFond insists that you leave London immediately and
come to your father's side at St. Sinistra in the West Indies. He has fallen victim
to a tropical disease, and only your presence will aid his recovery.

On the way to St. Sinistra, your ship is attacked by pirates. The pirate captain,
a young outcast socialite named Nicholas Jamison, warns you that the
letter and your dad's illness are tricks to lure you to the island. Jamison has
an old score to settle with Lord LaFond and offers to help free your father. You
decide to trust the young pirate, and begin a long and hazardous journey to
free dad from the dungeon of Jean LaFond.

Plundered Hearts is touted as interactive fiction. By typing in spoken
English words, you affect the final outcome of the story. The plot can take
several different directions, depending on how you react to the various puzzles
and dilemmas you encounter. Infocom has one of the best parsers (the part of
the program that deciphers your input) in the business, perfecting it to such an
extent that you feel as though you're actually talking to the story rather than
just typing.

Plundered Hearts is, however, considerably less interactive than most Infocom
games, and it sports a much smaller vocabulary of words that it can
understand—approximately 700—whereas most can process between 1000 to 2000
words. But what the game lacks in words, it more than makes up for in plot.

There's a lot of reading involved. While you might find that you have little
or no control over many of the situations that arise during the course of
play, Plundered Hearts' well-written prose should keep you in the thick of
the plot until the very end.

Plundered Hearts is not quite at the introductory level. It's challenging
enough to entice even the most seasoned adventure gamer, regardless of
sex, while still rudimentary enough not to overwhelm first-time players. Of
course. Infocom's ledgendary reputation for supplying first-rate documentation
is still justified.

But this is a romance story, with all that entails, and aside from the small
vocabulary and obvious cliches scattered throughout the Story, Plundered
Hearts finally offers something for women other than the worn out slash-and-slay
dramas, *(Infocom, Inc., 125 Cambridgepark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140.
C-64/$34.95.)*

<p class="bold right" style="font-variant: small-caps;">– John Ryan<br>Biloxi, MS</p>
