Review:

Zork: Nemesis is the seventh adventure taking you into the great underground empire. In this installment, you are sent to investigate the recent disappearance of some people of importance to the empire, four alchemists who have suddenly vanished. In your travels, you hear tales of the Nemesis, who has exacted some form of evil upon the alchemists for reasons of his own. You will end up at the temple where you will step into the shoes of this character, and find out exactly what has happened. During the course of your adventure, you will travel to five worlds in all, the temple and the realms of the alchemists themselves. Each world is locked with a puzzle of some sort, each having to do with the powers of a particular alchemist. In each world, you must construct and purify the elements that will be required to ressurect the four. You will find clues scattered about in these worlds that explain what you must do. Inadvertantly, you will also find out more about these individuals than you really wanted to know. They are hardly pure of heart, and their sins are uncovered to you as you investigate further into the story, one which tells about two of the alchemists' children, who have fallen in love, despite their elders' wishes. This adventure only grazes the mythos assosiated with that which is Zork. There are references to the familiar grues, flatheads, dimwits, and other things that make Zork the rich world with which we associate ourselves. This story is darker, with less of the trademark humour that usually accompanies a Zork title. However, this does not take anything away from the fact that this is still a fantastic adventure game. There is enough Zork to keep up the name reference, but more than enough game to hook you and reel you in. The graphics engine is composed of something called Z-Vision. In essence, you travel from point to point on your screen in the usual adventure way, but from each of these points, you can look around a full 360 degrees, and sometimes up and down. Your screen pans smoothly around as you move your cursor from side to side. From some vantage points, you will be allowed to also pan up and down if something of interest lies in those directions. It is a wonderful way to move your character around the game. The sounds and music are everything you would want from Zork. The strange noises emanating from your eerily empty surroundings resonate through your head and accompany you on the journey. The music is top-notch, comparable to that of Return to Zork, but not quite as good. But it only misses that mark barely. Gameplay ranges from the standard hotspot hunting to some devilishly clever puzzles. One thing about the puzzles this time around, is that they are much more logical than the ones in Return to Zork. Even if they stump you, you will have to admit that it makes some sense (in the context of the game's story) when you finally solve it. I felt that there were too many puzzles that made no sense in the previous game. The ones here are solid. They range from the simpler to the intensely difficult. A good range of difficulty for the average adventurer or the accomplished. Activision has put a very entertaining game together here. Don't let the lack of Zork sway you from this one, if you like adventures, you will not be disappointed by this game.

Bottom Line: Less Zork and more Nemesis, but still a fantastic adventure. Puzzles range from median to tough, but most follow solid logic. Lots of fun, highly recommended for average to accomplished adventurer.