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	Title: (Load & Run) Four-In-One Infocom Sampler
	Author: Charles Adai
	Source: Computer Entertainment, v3(7)
	Date: July 1985
	Transcription by Steve Derby
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*Designed by Mark Blank, Dave Lebling, Steve Meretzky, Stu Galley, and Mike Berlyn<br>
Infocom, 1984 / Most systems / Disk / $7.95*

*The Four-In-One Infocom Sampler* is a brilliant idea. There are few who haven't
heard of Infocom and its excellent text adventures, but many have never actually
played one. Price plays a major role in this; Infocom adventures are unique,
and a lot of people don't want to spend $40.00 on a piece of software that they
may not like. Even if you're sure that you would enjoy an Infocom game, you may
not be sure just which one to get. So some people have never bought an Infocom
adventure for no reason other than that they wanted to prepare themselves for
what they were getting into. The *Sampler* changes all that.

<img class="float-right-half" src="/public/img/articles/eg-four-in-one-infocom-sampler/infocom-sampler.jpg" alt="Infocom Four-In-One Sampler cover">

*The Four-In-One Infocom Sampler*, as its name suggests, contains samples
from four popular Infocom games, each representing a different category of
interactive fiction -- *Zork I* for Fantasy, *Planetfall* for Science Fiction,
*The Witness* for Mystery and *Infidel* for Tales of Adventure. In addition
the *Sampler* contains a tutorial that is an excellent introduction to the world
of adventure gaming, in which the computer leads the player, step by step,
through a mini-game with the object of capturing a butterfly in a small, three-room
world.

The tutorial is witty and enjoyable on its own -- even with only three rooms and
a handful of objects to work with, that Infocom humor shines through -- but the
real attraction of the package is its game samples. Each sample takes the player
through the opening sequence of a game; for *Infidel* that means finding the
lost pyramid, for *Planetfall* surviving the wreck of your spaceship and landing on
the deserted planet, and in *Zork I* the player must find the first caverns of the
Great Underground Empire. *The Witness'* sample is slightly different from the
others because of the way that Infocom's interactive mysteries are designed; in
that sample, the computer actually inputs predetermined commands on its own,
to give the player (or rather, in this case, the viewer) a feeling for the general
atmosphere of the game.

The segments are not long, but they manage to give the player an idea of what
each game is like. They certainly fulfill their purpose, which is to make
players want to finish the games, while also giving good examples of typical
Infocom situations and puzzles.

*The Four-In-One Infocom Sampler* should put an end to some of the procrastinating
that's been going on. Now all those people who have been putting off buying an
Infocom adventure will no longer than an excuse. After all, four Infocom
adventures on one disk? For only $7.95? It's almost too good to be true.
