<!--
	Title: (Software Evaluation) More Excitement For Thinking Adventurers
	Author: Monte Schulz
	Source: Creative Computing, v10(9)
	Date: September 1984
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

Fantasy/adventure is the single most popular genre in computer games. There
are several reasons for this, but the most prominent is creative flexibility. In a fantasy
context anything goes. When a new world is created for viewing on a CRT, its laws
are subject only to the whims and desires of the writers/programmers who have
conceived it.

However, not all of these computer generated fantasy worlds are created equal.
Some adventures violate the integrity of their own premise for cleverness sake
(introducing, for example, "force fields" in a traditional Cold War spy thriller),
while others choose simply to settle for a re-hash of someone else's game (find your
way into the Great Caverns, map the maze, kill the 101 guardian monsters, steal the
gold, and get out).

<img class="float-right-half" src="/public/img/articles/cc-sorcerer-review/sorcerer-packaging.png" alt="Sorcerer Packaging">

In some cases, the differences between good games and better ones lie in the programming.
More often than not, however, the differences are simply the result of
good writing versus bad, of a creative imagination versus an imitative one. Today,
there are very few truly excellent fantasy/adventure games in the software marketplace,
but the ones that do exist are so well conceived and so imaginative, that
they tend to be engrossing in a way that almost transcends mere gaming. Perhaps
not so coincidentally, the people at Infocom, authors of the fantasy trilogy *Zork*,
have written roughly half of these wonderful programs.

*Sorcerer*, the second installment in the *Enchanter* trilogy, carries Infocom's
Fantasy Series forward again with another well-conceived and executed storyline. Like
the first *Enchanter*, *Sorcerer* turns on the idea of a quest. All that
is known for certain this time is that Belboz, leader of the Circle of
Enchanters, has disappeared and that event is linked somehow to a demonic
presence called Jeearr.

The plot of *Sorcerer*, therefore, is more detective tale than mere adventure. It is a
mystery in a fantasy setting that must be unraveled one small step at a time. Clues
abound in the wilderness of the Great Underground Empire, but as in any good
mystery, determining just how they fit the larger puzzle of the game remains one of
the challenges.

Yet, the mystery element is only one of the things that makes this a special game.
In many ways, *Sorcerer* is wilder and more colorful than its predecessor. There are
more rooms of a greater variety, and they are inhabited by a wonderful collection
of fantastic and bizarre creatures each of which must be dealt with to survive the
game.

<style>.article-specific-sidebar { padding: 0; margin: 0; text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 2em; }</style>
<div class="article-sidebar-dark float-left">
<p class="center larger"><strong><span class="larger">SOFTWARE PROFILE</strong></p>
<p class="article-specific-sidebar"><strong>Name:</strong> Sorcerer</p>
<p class="article-specific-sidebar"><strong>Type:</strong> Text-adventure</p>
<p class="article-specific-sidebar"><strong>System:</strong> Apple, Atari, IBM PC, NEC PC-8000 and Advanced Personal Computer, TRS-80 Models I and III, Commodore 64, Osborne 1, TI Professional, and any CP/M-based system with 8" disk drive</p>
<p class="article-specific-sidebar"><strong>Format:</strong> Disk</p>
<p class="article-specific-sidebar"><strong>Summary:</strong> One of the finest fantasy/adventure programs available for the micro</p>
<p class="article-specific-sidebar"><strong>Price:</strong> $49.95; $59.95 for CP/M</p>
<p class="article-specific-sidebar"><strong>Manufacturer:</strong><br>Infocom, Inc.<br>55 Wheeler St.<br>Cambridge, MA 02138<br>(617) 492-1031</p>
</div>

Actually, *Sorcerer* provides so much to see and do that it seems less than half of
the game is directly connected with the locating of Belboz. There is even an old
amusement park tucked away in an obscure corner of the Empire. If that sounds a
little too frivolous, there is always King Duncanthrax's Maze of Glass -- a three
dimensional 27-room cube of transparent walls constructed as a plaything in the
early days of the Great Underground Empire to torture the unfortunate. An
inattentive and unimaginative enchanter will be hard pressed to survive for very
long in its interior, yet traversing its many passageways is mandatory to solving
the game.

*Sorcerer* is a uniquely difficult game to play. Rather than providing the continuity
of bafflement found in the first *Enchanter*, it turns on several extremely tough puzzles
built into an otherwise (seemingly) simple game. In other words, you can play for
hours just wandering around having a good time, only to stumble into a situation where
you become stuck without a clue as to what should be done next. Remember:
this is a game for the thinking person.

What is nicest to see is that Infocom believes in its own fantasy world. There is
a consistency both in mood and detail allowing each game in the Fantasy Series
to build on an already conceived and established groundwork. In *Sorcerer*, Steve
Meretsky adds to the foundation laid by *Zork* and *Enchanter* authors Marc Blank
and Dave Lebling by further expanding the geography and legend of the Great
Underground Empire. Like an immense jigsaw puzzle of characters, places, and
events, the pieces previously scattered about are now beginning to dovetail and
the picture takes shape.

<blockquote style="font-size: 1.5em; font-family: var(--article-sidebar), sans-serif; text-align: center; font-weight: bold; border-top: 2px solid; border-bottom: 2px solid;">
	Infocom believes in its own fantasy world.
</blockquote>

The writers are Infocom have made "real" their own realm of fantasy in fiction, and
by doing so, are granting those of us who play these games a share in that creation.
Who can say where it will all end? One thing is certain: years from now when
critics of interactive computer literature discuss the origins of the genre, there will
be little doubt that it had its most colorful and entertaining beginnings at Infocom.
