K-Power, v1(2)

~1 minute read

Mar 1984

Screening Room: The Rating Game

Enchanter

Justin Greene

hardware requirements: Apple II/II plus/IIe, 32K (disk); also available for Atari 400/800/1200XL, 32K (disk); Commodore 64 (disk); IBM PC, 48K (disk); TRS-80 Models I/III, 32K (disk)
manufacturer: Infocom, Inc., 55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138; (617) 492-1031
price: $49.95

Enchanter, an adventure game set in a world of wizards and warlocks, is one of Infocom's latest masterpieces. With only four spells to your name, you (a lowly novice enchanter) must seek out and defeat the warlock Krill, an omnipotent outcast from the Circle of Enchanters.

When the game begins, your only possession is a spell book. But as you move deeper into the world of Enchanter, you acquire other items that help you on your quest.

One of the greatest features of the game is its realism. (I'm not talking about Krill and all the other magical beings, of course.) There are a lot of little factors that add up and make Enchanter more like a real experience: time passes (there is night and day); you can interact with other characters; and during the course of the game, you have to eat, drink, and sleep. When you sleep, you even dream. (Dreams usually give hints on how to complete certain parts of the game.)

Enchanter's graphics are better than those generated by any computer, because they are pictures drawn by the imagination. Though the game is entirely in text, every situation is presented in great detail. You type in full-sentence commands. Many commands even have a variety of responses. Like most Infocom games, Enchanter has a vocabulary of more than 600 words. No more two-word adventures where half the game consists of finding out what words can be used.

This adventure is one of the best I've played. It's great for anyone who likes to sit down and become someone else. One warning, though: Don't bother with it if you're impatient. It could take days or weeks to solve.

JUSTIN GREENE, 16
New York, New York

This article appeared in
K-Power
Mar 1984

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