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	Title: (After Hours: Games) The Leading Role in a Spy Thriller: Border Zone Presents Three Possible Missions
	Author: Gus Venditto
	Source: PC Magazine, v7(6)
	Date: March 29, 1988
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

Interactive fiction has taken more than its share of knocks.
Legions of the curious have tried a game or two, only to
emerge from their adventures cursing and frustrated. The
games didn't understand the language of the uninitiated, and
so the uninitiated stayed that way.

Maybe this failure to communicate owes more to the subject
of those games than the logic needed to understand them.

That logic is not beyond most people. These games present
threatening situations and invite you to save yourself by
barking out commands to the game. Deducing each game's
quirky reasoning is simply a mutter of patience: try anything,
but learn from your mistakes.

Until now, interactive fiction has grown under the blanket
of fantasy and science fiction. Star Trek and other space
jaunts have lent their mystiques to "destroy-the-alien" adventures;
*The Lurking Horror* treads through H. P. Lovecraft's
dark territory; and *Zork* dwells in damp dungeons haunted
by wizards and elves.

Everyone enjoys a good story.
but many of us are unwilling to venture into a land of dungeons
and dragons, no matter how many thrills await.

<figure class="float-right">
	<img src="/public/img/articles/pcmag-border-zone-review/border-zone-screen-shot.jpg" alt="Border Zone screen shot">
	<figcaption>Border Zone <em>taunts and you respond<br>You'll need total concentration
		to elude the three synchronized searchlights that the game
		using in this screen.</em></figcaption>
</figure>

*Border Zone*, from Infocom, has hit upon exactly the right
scenario for an interactive novel: an Eastern European espionage
nest. You deliver secret documents in clandestine meetings
and then get out of the country, while the police hover
nearby. The rules are familiar only to those who grew up with
James Bond and "Mission Impossible": for example, trust no
one, never say more than you have to. and be ready to make a
quick exit.

It was written by Marc Blank (which has got to be a *nom de
keyboard*), the author of *Zork*. If you’re going to read a spy
novel, it might as well be one of John Le Carre's, and if you're
going to try interactive fiction, you might as well start with
Marc Blank's latest.

Several hours after I boarded the train in *Border Zone*'s Frobnia,
I solved my first challenge: sneaking a document past machine-gun-toting
police and passing it on to a Russian double
agent. *ProKey* helped cut down on repetitive typing ("Walk
North" "Walk South"). I used about 80 percent of the hints that
the game reluctantly divulges, started to rely on the deep pool
of sneaky habits I had acquired as a youth but thought were now
in remission, and became completely absorbed. Two more
chapters were waiting.

The hints are another reason why *Border Zone* may appeal to
many who have shunned interactive fiction. You don’t have to
pay extra for clues to the game's logic, just type Hints from the
command line, and then repeat your request even after the game
takes a parental attitude and tries to warn you off. On-line
hints are long overdue in interactive fiction, and this ought to
be the beginning of a trend.

With the first of three legs complete, it's a good time to
take in the game's printed matter: the lavishly illustrated pamphlet
"I Am Frobnia: Fortunate Tourists Guide and Phrasebook"
(see sidebar "'Ouzna Gotcha' and Other Required
Phrases"); a map of the terrain near the border; an ornate business
card from a local merchant; and a matchbook, compliments
of Frobnia's railway (if we can deduce anything about the railway
service from the quality of the matches, expect your train
to be delayed).

<div class="article-sidebar-box float-right-half" style="box-shadow: 4px 4px;">

## "Ouzna Gotcha" and Other Required Phrases

*Border Zone* does not require proficiency in Frobnian (the language
of the fictitious Eastern bloc state where *Border Zone*
takes place), but "I Am Frobnia: Fortunate Tourists Guide and
Phrasebook" is one of the game’s delights. Among other tips, it
reports that there is no translation for "Please" or "You're welcome."
Practice dialogue sessions usually conclude with Ouzna
gotcha ("You’re under arrest").

Hello *Pimsna*<br>
My name is . . . *Riza yorp* . . .<br>
I am from . . . *Intz kem* . . .<br>
Where are you from? *Kap kladni*?<br>
What is your . . . *Snim pli* . . .<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;blood type? *corpzim*?<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;age? *heriznip*?<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;potato ration? *viski huritz*?

<p class="smaller">Copyright 1987 Infocom Inc.: reprinted with permission.</p>
</div>


The rich detail in these souvenirs adds to the Interactive
feeling. Only the map proves useful (in chapter 2), but the
phrasebook enriches the atmosphere. It gives *Border Zone* a
sense of mission, unlike other games where you sometimes
wonder if anybody, other than the head programmer, ever really
knew what was going on.

Chapter 2 creates a good
chase that rises to edge-of-your-seat urgency at the climax.
You’ll need total concentration to elude the beams of the three
searchlights that constitute one of the final hurdles at the Frobnian
border.

You play different roles in each chapter, and since your
goals in the first two are straightforward, you'll hardly
care. But chapter 3 is full of plot twists and double agents. I felt a
little cheated that the work I had done in the first two chapters
wouldn't help here.

But, hey, the life of a spy is thankless. Your only satisfaction
comes when a mission is accomplished. And when your
logic is understood.

**List Price:** *Border Zone*, $39.95.<br>
**Requires:** 192K RAM, one disk drive, DOS 2.0 or later.
Not copy protected. Infocom Inc., 125 Cambridge Park Dr., Cambridge,
MA 02140; (800)262-6868.