Zork Nemesis

If, like me, youÆre a sucker for beautiful graphics and a mysterious adventure, the 3 CDs of Zork Nemesis are for you. Zork traces its ancestry back to one of the original text adventures (in fact the previous graphical adventure, Return to Zork, cast a nod in this direction by starting with the old text prompt before spinning into modern graphics). Zork Nemesis, though, is very much the next generation from Return.

First striking point is that Nemesis has both DOS and Windows 95 versions of the game on the disks. Myst proved that Windows could host a decent graphical adventure - Nemesis uses the high power graphics facilities of Windows 95 (some care needed - it may be necessary to upgrade your graphics drivers) to finally show that Windows can do great graphics.

Once you are into the game, thereÆs a second revelation. In almost all Nemesis locations you can turn through 360 degrees, with a continuous field of vision. Okay, there might not be anything to do in many of the directions, but itÆs still streets ahead of the programmed flow of some adventure games. Sound, graphics and moving images are striking (they ought to be, this game only works with 16 bit or more sound cards, and 64K colours or better), and the puzzles are beautifully crafted and seem unusually logical for a Zork (at least as far as IÆve got so far). There are five principle locations, starting with a wonderful, sprawling gothic temple - excellent stuff.

Overall - a lush, state of the art adventure, made special by Windows 95 support and the 360 degree views. If you like adventures and your systemÆs up to it, this is a must-have.

Priced at ú35 to ú40 in the UK. Produced by Activision, web site: http://www.activision.com