GUE. The acronym fairly reeks of nostalgia. 378 GUE - a very good year. A white house, a small mailbox, a "move carpet" command - all of these brought us to GUE. A thief, a sailor, a grue - all of these pointed to GUE. Only those of us from parser land remember the beginning of an institution: Zork I. Have we come full circle? No, probably not. But surely, (don't call me Shirley....rim shot), Activision's latest Zork extravaganza Zork Nemesis is a landmark in the evolution of what has been one of the most beloved empire of modern Adventure gaming (ancient adventure gaming having been a bout of Dungeon on a dinosaur mainframe...).
GUE, the Great Underground Empire, which has served as the center of the Zork universe for about twenty years, contains a remote region known as the Forbidden Lands. You are a wanderer through these lands and begin the game amid ancient ruins. You find a woman in a candle who says to you, "...They are in the temple." Before giving you a chance to ask who they are, and how she manages to survive in that candle, she disappears, leaving you to wonder whether or not to brew her a pot of decaf, run errands, call the furnace guy or what. You assume that since she lives in such a lovely candle, she must have an administrative assistant to take care of these things. So off you go to find the temple.
Once inside (puzzle number one), you find four alchemists trapped in glass sepulchers. They surely do not have hired help, and implore you to find the elements earth, air, fire and water they apparently desperately need (one per alchemist) in order to survive. Herein lies your quest.
The search for the elements takes you through all corners of the temple, a desolate place with eerie sound effects and strange and wondrous devices - perhaps more like Myst than Myst itself. Or maybe Myst was more Zorkian than Mystian to begin with. Or maybe, just maybe, night will fall in Helsinki. But I digress.
Once the elements have been acquired, the alchemists further persuade you to find the four metals with which their elements are associated. You consider placing a help-wanted ad for them because truly you have done enough; but the lure of the game continues and you decide to travel to their four worlds to seek out these metals. The majority of the game takes place in the former worlds of the alchemists: the castle Irondune, the Conservatory, the Asylum and the Monastery. Your task in each is to seek out the alchemy lab and forge the required metal into an appropriately shaped symbol.
In each world, there are insights into the alchemists' histories and relationships and you learn of the prelate's daughter Alexandria and her lover Lucien. In a very Phantasmagoria kind of way, touching seemingly innocuous items rewards you with a snippet of history via digitized video. In fact, Phantas lovers will probably be very impressed with this game...except that they probably won't be able to solve it in a million hours. Anyone who found something like Phantas challenging should beware entering the world of Zork Nemesis without a walkthrough, maps and one or two seasoned adventurers under his or her hat. And if it's too hot to wear a hat, the seasoned adventurers may also be kept in socks and underwear. And if it's too hot to wear socks and underwear, well, play Doom or take a shower or something.
Some have said that Ripper was tougher, but I am convinced that this is every bit as tough, but maybe in a less nuts-and-bolts fashion. But take heart! There is an on-line hint feature, which may be enabled or disabled during setup. Think twice before disabling it though, because not only are hints very helpful in a game this tough, there is also a beautiful, naked Venus who acts as your guide. Return your eyes to their sockets now, since she is not facing us (She is lovely nonetheless). Enter a question mark and she will let you touch her three times...but only three. After that, you're on your own. Of course there's always the save-ask-restore cheat...we know never to put you on the honor system. Help is available only in the Temple so once you have solved the initial four-element quest, the multi-world metal refining is up to you.
Each location is beautifully rendered and has a sort of theme ambiance enhanced by the graphics, music and special effects. The Monastery has bell towers and chanting monks and talking heads (not to be confused with Talking Heads...More Songs About Buildings and Food...); the Castle is a war monger's paradise, with armoured guard models and a War Room with instant boxed battle simulations - just add milk! The Conservatory is a realm of music and sound, where Alexandria's violin debut requires a carefully chosen fanfare, and the frobophone and fleezle horn reign. Finally, the Asylum - a chilling world whose halls are haunted with the faint screams and cries of the insane; where headless corpses are carried through the halls, and disembodied brains are governed by electrodes...bleak, depressing and sometimes horrifying. Anyone who has ever visited an old-world asylum will probably be disturbed by this scenario, as will probably a few of you who haven't. Cool job, designers!
In all of the worlds, the state of the art 360-degree perspective provides a convincingly you-are-there environment once you get used to the degree of control necessary to avoid becoming dizzy, and the hauntingly wonderful score almost always enhances the mood with uncanny perfection. In fact, the sound is not only a mood-altering substance, but crucial to puzzle solving on several occasions.
So what's not to like? Just a few things. Although the 360-engine provided a wonderfully smooth scrolling panorama, navigation is just a bit problematic at times, fighting to be facing the thing with which you want to interact.
Players like me who have played every Zork title since the beginning of GUE may have a hard time accepting Nemesis as having emerged from the Zorkian womb. Of course any graphic representation of what had been a textual conception is bound to irk the seasoned player. It's like, "Did you see the movie Flame Pod from Uranus?" "Uh, no, it could never be as good as the book..."
Oh there are Zork references...a grue here, a Dimwit Flathead there, but the tone of the game is particularly unZorkian. So the seasoned Zork enthusiast will find references which remind him or her of the tongue-in-cheek, offbeat humor that brought us the famed Coconut of Quendor, but will soon notice that Nemesis is almost always severely serious and purist and lacking in quirkiness. On the other hand, the newer player will come across the same old references that will have him scratching his head and saying, "Huh?" But no matter, the newer players probably have the best deal. They are not expecting any tie-in to Old World Zork.
Finally (and certainly this quibble is a matter of taste) the worlds were EMPTY - except for about one creature per site. Since there were these one-per-world folks, I kept wondering where the heck everyone else was. I don't think they were supposed to be mirages, or if they were, it didn't work. I don't want Myst I want Zork. The alchemists may just as well have been gasping, "Get me the blue paaaages - More blue paaaaaages..." instead of "Water! Waaaaater!"
Nitpicking aside, I highly recommend Zork Nemesis to all adventure fans for a generally high-quality gaming experience. Dollars per hour, it's certainly a worthwhile venture. Old Zork fans, just don't expect classic Zork; Myst lovers, have a field day; and newcomers, release those seasoned adventurers from your socks and underwear and get clicking!
