Zork Zero is another in the supremely huge series of Zork games. It is subtitled The Revenge of Megaboz, and is an interactive fiction computer game written by Steven Meretzky. It was released by Infocom in the late eighties, and is the ninth and final release in the aforementioned Zork series prior to the collapse of Infocom. Despite being the final release, it is actual a prequel the other Zork games, with the action in it occurring prior to the events of Zork I, the first installment of the series.
Zork Zero is another in the supremely huge series of Zork games. It is subtitled The Revenge of Megaboz, and is an interactive fiction computer game written by Steven Meretzky. It was released by Infocom in the late eighties, and is the ninth and final release in the aforementioned Zork series prior to the collapse of Infocom. Despite being the final release, it is actual a prequel the other Zork games, with the action in it occurring prior to the events of Zork I, the first installment of the series.
Lord Dimwit Flathead the Excessive is cursed by a local malcontent, Megaboz the Magnificent. Lord Dimwit had decided to build a ridiculously huge statue of him and incurred the wrath of Megaboz, who resided in
the town of Fublio Valley where the statue was built. Megaboz is so angry with enormous, costly statue’s erection that he not only curses Lord Dimwit, but strikes out against the entire Empire, including the rest of the royal family. He then disappears, leaving the people to sort out the dilemma. The kingdom’s conjurers cannot counteract the spell; they can only slow its effects. Dimwit and his eleven siblings perish, but the destruction of the kingdom has yet to come to pass. The Empire has a life span of ninety five years. If the curse is not counteracted by the anniversary of Dimwit’s death, Curse Day, the Empire will fall. The current ruler offers half the kingdom’s wealth to anyone able to lift the curse and save it from disaster, drawing out half-cocked treasure seekers from everywhere. On Curse Day, the curse has yet to be lifted and everyone flees the castle, leaving behind the user and the court jester.
The user plays the part of a servant within Dimwit’s household. His ancestor suffered the great misfortune of being present in the scullery when Megaboz appeared to fling the curse upon the land. Megaboz left behind a scrap of parchment, which is recovered by the servant’s ancestor. The user has inherited this memento and is now the only one left to save the land. There are twenty-four objects scattered about the land, two for each of the Flathead siblings, which must be gathered and placed in a cauldron. This is the user’s ultimate task in this huge puzzle adventure.
Zork Zero is a very large game that will take forever to complete. The puzzles, however, are logical, varied and good and can keep the user interested all along the way. This is a great bit of interactive fiction, with a nice inventory, easy interface, decent graphics and quite a story to go with it. It isn’t necessary to play the other Zork games, but it helps especially when it comes to explaining the jester’s sometimes unpredictable behavior. This is a big one. Download it if you are a career adventure gamer.
