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	Title: (WHAT'S IN STORE: SOFTWARE REVIEWS) Zork I (Adventure)
	Author: Eric Greystad
	Source: Family Computing, v1(1)
	Date: September 1983
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-right" src="/public/img/articles/family-computing-zork-i-review/zork-screen-shot.jpg" alt="Zork I screen shot">
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: Apple II/II plus/lIe. 32K disk<br>
MANUFACTURER; Infocom<br>
PRICE: S39.95<br>

Trying to select the "best" adventure game is a lot like trying to
select the "best" book. But if you're starting a library, everyone agrees
that you should include some Dickens and Shakespeare; and if you're
collecting adventure games, you're not finished until you have *Zork I*.

You explore the unknown terrain of a small house and the magical
kingdom beneath it, typing in instructions to the computer, as in all
text adventures. An unreliable flashlight (occasionally) reveals the nasty
creatures — bent on your destruction — that lurk along the path.
What's more, even if you manage to collect a bit of the booty, a "dastardly,
antisocial" pickpocket is waiting to intercept you.

As a text adventure, *Zork* is unrivaled. For instance, you can choose
to skip familiar, already trodden passages. Complete sentences — not
pidgin — two-word commands, steer you through the underground empire.
*Zork*'s playing features and detailed, witty responses are surpassed only
by Infocom's more recent games, *Deadline* and *Suspended* (not to
mention *Zork II* and *III*.)

Some adventures are more complicated, and some have fancy graphics,
but *Zork I* is the one that changed adventuring from a computer
novelty into sophisticated entertainment.
