Zork III: The Dungeon Master

The Good
Within the trilogy, Zork 3 has an atmosphere all its own. No more gardens, unicorns, or nice little houses - the world of the Dungeon Master is black and dead, a place of shadows, mist, and a dark lake... This change makes for a more harrowing, claustrophobic game. There are fewer tasks - only seven points to get, and the first three are easy. The characters you meet are almost all hostile and treacherous, though (perhaps for balance) there is a high dosage of FlatHead humor in places.

The Bad
Coming from Zork 2, Zork 3 is a place to get stuck. The game is effectively divided into two sections, and in the first you are likely to reach a point of total frustration. The darkness and claustrophobia are great for atmosphere, but annoying after a while - the game really doesn't let up.

The Bottom Line
Infocom has avoided the trap of making an identical sequel, just as they avoided a Zork 1 repeat in The Wizard of Frobozz. Zork 3 is dark, bleak, and very different from its predecessors. Somewhere between Zork 1 and Zork 2 in difficulty, Zork 3 is an excellent and worthy conclusion to the (initial) series.

The Good
(WARNING: This review contains some spoilers.)

Unlike Zork I and II, this part has a very own atmosphere, the game feels more alive and absorbing than the first two parts. It seems to me that Lebling and Blank were somewhat fed up with the players hunting treasures and points. This is no treasure crawl anymore. Instead, you are tested, in so unusual aspects as patience, compassion and humility (yes, years before Ultima IV!). So the usual routine of "kill everything that moves, grab everything that doesn't" doesn't really work here.

I think the designers made a conscious effort of getting the players away from that primitivity that, in the beginning of adventuring, may have been helpful, but which severely limited the genre. Just the fact that there are only a measly 7 points to get, and that, even if you have them all, you're still far from having finished the game.

Zork III also features some wonderful puzzles, like the one in the cave beside the lake, where you can (and have to) visit rooms from Zork I, II and III and even Enchanter, or the lovely time-travel puzzle, or the great Sokoban-style Royal Puzzle. The puzzles are pretty hard, but I found them easier than Zork II, because the whole atmosphere makes you be more in the game than in the previous Zorks.

The Bad
Hmm... well one thing that I found a bit frustrating and unfair was that earthquake that occurs after some time, and which, if you haven't done this or that by the time, makes the game unsolvable. They should have made it clearer that this earthquake has a profound impact on the cave.

The Bottom Line
This is the most mature all Zork games, and the one that tries to break the usual treasure crawl routine in a very refreshing and challenging way. It also has a a wonderful, dark and intense atmosphere that made it easier to get into the game; the typical Zorkian humor is far more subtle here (but it is there -- hello sailor!).

I liked Zork I very much for its Colossal Cave-inspired nerdiness and its straightforward treasure crawl feel. Zork II was somewhat disappointing, I felt -- it tried to be more than a crawl, by mixing in some untypical elements, but the mix didn't work out so well. Zork III, however, completely reinvents the genre. I felt it very enjoyable from start to finish, and a great ending for a great trilogy.

In fact, for experienced adventure gamers that want to "get into" Zork, I would maybe even recommend this. The logical choice Zork I may be just too "pure crawl" for today's spoiled brats.

The Good
Don't really remember much about this one, sorry, except what is below.

The Bad
This game was the first I believe to use a timed event. In this game, an earthquake would occur, which would split a room in half. Cool, but if you were on the wrong side of the split, you would have to reload. If there was one downside to all Infocom games, they allowed you to die easily, or allowed you to find yourself in "dead" spots like this, forcing a re-load.

The Bottom Line
For Zork experts only.