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→What the games are about
In Jungle Hunt, the player performs such feats as swinging on ropes from tree to tree and battling with alligators to save a damsel in distress.
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=For disk drivers=
By the time you read this, TI users with disk drives may be able to play any Infocom game on their 99/4As. Reports in December that Infocom was not going to market its games for the TI home computer have been revised.
Joan Fasanello of Infocom, interviewed in late January, said the company now plans to release all of its games for the TI ''within the next month, maybe sooner."
Fasanello said Infocom writes all of its games to disk, regardless of which of the 18 makes of computer they are written for. She said the disk drive is the only special equipment a user will need to play the games.
Infocom's games, which are text adventures, include ZORK I, ZORK II, ZORK III and Starcross at $39.95 each; Enchanter, Suspended, Planetfall, Deadline, The Witness and Infidel list for $49.95 each.
Fasanello said that the Infocom software will be available at department stores, computer stores and "any place where they sell computer products."
The ZORK trilogy is designed so that each is a complete and separate story unto itself, so that they can be played in any order the user chooses. However, these games, which take place in an imaginary, subterranean realm, share a common thread.
ZORK I is subtitled "The Great Underground Empire." The player seeks the Twenty Treasures of ZORK and tries to escape with them and his life while being confronted with various perils.
In ZORK II, "The Wizard of Frobozz," one's opponent in the subterranean realm is, you guessed it, the Wizard. In ZORK II you encounter its subtitle character, "The Dungeon Master."
Starcross takes the player to the year 2186 and a rendezvous with a huge spacecraft from the outer fringes of the galaxy. Included are aliens from another world and a light-years-old puzzle that only the player can meet.
In Enchanter, the player is a novice magician in combat with the Evil War lock in a battle of spells.
Suspend takes the adventure game player underground once again, this time in a cryogenic capsule deep within an alien world. An earthquake disrupts the systems of the Under ground Complex and the player must stabilize them to save this alien world from destruction. The player commands six robots, each of which perceives the world differently. The game has three levels of play and an option which allows the player to customize the game.
Planetfall goes a hundred centuries into the future to a Stellar Patrol ship of the Third Galactic Union. The ship explodes and the player is jettisoned to a mysterious planet where he encoun ters floods, pestilence and a mutant Wild Kingdom. Together with your trusty robot companion, Floyd, you explore the planet and attempt to discover how to save it.
Deadline refers to the 12-hour deadline the player has to solve a classic locked-door mystery. There are six suspects. The player gets a dossier containing lab reports, police findings, suspicious-looking pills and more. Clues and motives are provided along the way as the player attempts to track down the killer.
The Witness is another detective game, harking back to the days when the "whodunit" reached the height of its popularity. Again there are suspects to choose from, a police file, and clues, motives and alibis along the way when blackmail turns into murder.
In Infidel, the player, a soldier of fortune marooned by his followers, seeks the great pyramid. On entering the pyramid, the player must decipher its hieroglyphs and unravel its mysteries one by one-always in danger of death.
For users who get frustrated trying to work these text adventures out, Infocom has InvisiClues booklets for each game. Clues range from hints to full answers in each booklet and are written in invisible ink. The player uses the developing market included
with the booklet to make the selected clues visible.
Also available are blueprints for the detective games and guide maps for the other adventure games.
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