<!--
	Title: When is A Zero Not A Zero?
	Subtitle: Infocom's "Zork Zero"
	Author: Dave Arneson
	Source: Computer Gaming World, v9(1)
	January 1989
-->

<div class="float-left article-sidebar-dark" style="border: 3px solid;">
<table><tbody>
<tr><td>TITLE:</td><td>Zork Zero</td></tr>
<tr><td>SYSTEM:</td><td>Macintosh</td></tr>
<tr><td># PLAYERS:</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>DESIGNER:</td><td>Steve Meretzky</td></tr>
<tr><td>PUBLISHER:</td><td>Infocom, Inc.<br>Cambridge, MA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

*More than 90 years have passed since the great
wizard Megaboz cast the curse which destroyed
Lord Dimwit Flathead "The Excessive" along with
the ruling family, the Twelve Flatheads. Now, the curse
threatens to bring down the Great Underground Empire itself!*

*Wurb Flathead, the current occupant of the throne, has
sent a clarion call to the most remote corners of the Empire:
half the riches of the kingdom to the person who can
allay the curse. From every province of Quendor,
courageous adventurers, scheming charlatans, and wildeyed
crackpots have streamed into the Imperial Capitol of
Flatheadia.*

In *Zork Zero*, the player's character is a peasant from One
Hut Village in Nowhere Province. He is *special*. In times
past, an ancestor, who happened to have been a servant in
the castle, observed Megaboz casting *the curse*. This ancestor
"just happened" to obtain a scrap of wizardly parchment
from the mage's pocket during the creating of the curse.
Passed down through the generations, it conveniently contains
the clue needed to end *the curse*.

Be forewarned, however, that upon your character's arrival
in Flatheadia, the other treasure hunters will have gone
home. Those in authority, as well as the population in
general, have departed for parts unknown. Now, the quest
begins. *All* have left and the player's character is practically
alone in the castle on CURSE DAY. (Insert evil sounding
music here).

Only King Wurb's court jester accompanies the character.
The jester is, unfortunately, as full of deadly tricks as he is of
riddles and games. Players should watch out for him as he
gives helpful nudges in the right direction and pops in and
out of the quest at his own whim.

## Getting Zorked

So, you don't like text games and don't like puzzles? I don't
either. I like watching the critters bash each other. Puzzles I
can't figure out become humiliating when the "All too obvious"
solution is revealed. Well, *Zork Zero* might just
change all that for you, just like it has for me.

This game is well thought out, thorough, and covers a
large area. *Really large!* It is not only fun to play, but is also
neither too difficult nor a piece of cake.

*Zork Zero* has no animation. The few pictures are all static
pictures. Hence, it is strictly a text game with only a few
graphics. The manual is very complete and does a good job
of presenting the vocabulary used in the game. This is important
because the game uses a large library of words. Even
better news, though, is that when a command is refused, the
program explains *why* it does not like the command. This
reduces guessing quite a bit.

In addition, the game comes complete with two "clues" and
a calendar. The first clue is a parchment piece which is
necessary for solving the last puzzle and the other is a
blueprint that is vital for the later stages of the game. The
calendar is a compendium of clues. The illustrations of the
twelve Flatheads contain, at least, one good hint on each
page and players will find themselves consulting it on several
occasions during the game.

<img class="float-right" src="/public/img/articles/cgw-zork-zero-review/zork-zero-cover.jpg" alt="Zork Zero cover">

The game program contains almost twenty screens of
hints. These are quite useful in keeping the game moving.
This is quite helpful when one considers that there are over
twenty items that must be found and returned
to their proper places in order to complete the
quest. For those that have trouble, the game's
extensive on-line hints will provide a list of the
items, including a designation indicating which
of the Twelve Flatheads originally owned it and
where the item can now be found in the game.
For example, a listing might read, "Silk Tie (J.
Pierpont): in the nest in the Aerie." The tie is the
same one being worn by Pierpont in his picture
on the calendar for the month of "Mage."

Points are scored in several ways. The
list of points in the on-line hints section
comes in four parts. The hints tell
players what actions will increase their
scores and the number of points to be
received. For example, a player can earn
twelve points for finding a Flathead item
and five more points when that item is placed in the right
place. Five points can be lost if the player puts the wrong
item in a given location.

As one would expect, problem solving also scores points.
For example, solving the "walnut riddle" nets twenty points
for a player while simply winning the game only nets thirty
points. There is certainly more to the game than simply "winning,"
since there are one thousand possible points to be
earned and one can win with less.

A turn plays quite easily! Players who are familiar with text
games will have no problems with *Zork Zero*. Even inexperienced
players will be swept right into the flow of the
game via the opening sequence. One of the extremely nice
features of this text game is that players can have their computers
print out a "script" of their adventure. This provides
not only a nice reference, but it can also be used to impress
friends or compare notes.

## To Map or Not to Map

The mapping system in *Zork Zero* is easy to use and well illustrated.
Each location has its own special icon to show
where characters have been and where they
can go. The map can be called up at any
time and may keep the player from getting
repeatedly lost. (Note: If the game is not
saved prior to calling up the map, any information
currently on the screen can be lost.)

## Hints or Hindrance?

For denser players, such as myself, there is
a useful system of hints. Because of the
hierarchical nature of the hint system, the
first hint does not automatically reveal all information.
In fact, there may be as many as
a dozen hints for a given situation. Not that
I would ever need to use hints! ha! Since
the player only gets the information needed
to help him solve the puzzle, players can utilize
some of the hints and still have the satisfaction
of solving a puzzle themselves. It is
also possible for those players with absolutely
no willpower to toggle off the game's hint
feature so that it is unavailable unless one
restarts or restores.

<figure class="float-left-narrow" style="text-align: center;">
<img src="/public/img/articles/cgw-zork-zero-review/leonardo-flathead.jpg" alt="Leonardo Flathead">
<figcaption>Leonardo Flathead</figcaption><p></p>
<img src="/public/img/articles/cgw-zork-zero-review/lucrezia-flathead.jpg" alt="Lucrezia Flathead">
<figcaption>Lucrezia Flathead</figcaption><p></p>
<img src="/public/img/articles/cgw-zork-zero-review/stonewall-flathead.jpg" alt="Stonewall Flathead">
<figcaption>Stonewall Flathead</figcaption><p></p>
</figure>

## Itemized Deductions (Strategy Notes)

Players should not be too quick to discard
items they find or too eager to utilize an
item's magic. The temptation, for example,
is to throw the "Lobster" away or not even
take it in the first place. Keep it! It's necessary!
Again, the "Magic Wand" is found early
in the game, but needs to be used judiciously
since it is needed to open areas of the
maze during the latter portions of the game.

There is much to do in the game and
there are, of course, a few red herrings.
Players should keep that final goal in mind
and success will follow. It is fun, however, to
do some silly things as well. Since the game
is both non-linear and has no time limit,
there is no reason not to save the game
and go nosing about having a good time.

## Puzzled Looks

Some of the puzzles are good. Some are
strange. Some are dumb!

In the strange category, one finds the
rebus puzzle. This shows six "flattened"
animals on it. It is one of the few pictures
encountered in the game. **(Warning: Hint
to follow)** Players solve it by figuring out
that pressing the button that makes strange
animal noises is the key to the puzzle. Until
the animals are removed, the puzzle cannot
be read.

Another weird puzzle is reading the writing
on the "magic" glove. **(Hint follows:)** We
found a way to "Read Glove on Glove," but
that seems extremely odd.

On the "dumb" side is the puzzle about the
stack of six disks. Some of it seems obvious,
but part of it will make players thankful for
the hints. On the "plus" side, the card game
is rather neat.

One recurring problem is that the hints
often make references to the rulebook when
they actually mean the calendar. Failure to
provide the correct response will result in
the game insulting the players and calling
them pirates.

## Jester Closer Walk (Problems)

The continuous presence of Pester, the
court jester, is a nuisance! He can be a helpful
companion, but there are many times
when players will have the urge to "Dispense
with his services." Players are urged
to restrain themselves because his presence
is ultimately useful to the quest and it is impossible
to get rid of him permanently,
anyway. Admittedly, the puzzle where the
player's character is transformed into an alligator
(and must eat a worm as the antidote)
only costs time and does no harm to
the final quest, but really! This is a matter of
personal taste, but I must protest that the
court jester seems simply too much at times.

Of more significance is the fact that the
program only requires one megabyte of
memory on the Macintosh. However, players
who only have 1 MB of RAM in their computers
need to realize that the game plays
much slower than on 2 MB machines.
Those who use the slower machines won't
have time to get a cup of coffee while waiting
for a move to be processed, but there is
plenty of time to reflect.

Another nagging detail is that the game is
set up to use only a half-screen window with
no provision for anything else. This is odd,
since the manual refers to full-screen illustrations.
All of mine came up on partial
screens. Hopefully, other versions will use
larger windows since a partial screen on the
average Macintosh is pretty small.

## What Do You Really Think?

*Zork Zero* is a very well documented and
user friendly game. Overall, it is a worthy addition
to the *Zork* series and is, by far, the
best one to date. Players who like text
games will *definitely* love this game. Even
those who don't usually like text games or
are "not sure" about them will probably be
pleasantly surprised with Zork Zero.

Frankly, Zork Zero is probably the best text
adventure out there. It is a lot better than
many animated ones. Few animated games
have Zork Zero's size and depth.

"When is a zero not a zero?" asks the jester.

'When it is Zork Zero!" you answer.

"Right!" says the jester as he turns you into
a rutabaga.