Return to Zork (Jewel Case)

Rating:
Summary: Return to Zork has my vote!
Review: I love this game! My best friend and I played it together, and we had so much fun trying to figure out the different puzzles and stuff. It has good graphics and haunting music, and it didn't let us down. I only wish more of the games were available from amazon, I'd buy them in a heartbeat!!!

Rating:
Summary: Illogical, inconsistent, practically unplayable
Review: Love the ZORK world. Have all of them and have played them. Like the sense of humor, love the puns. Remarkably, the text games actually stand the test of time better than Return to Zork with its clumbsy graphics and awkward play. Sometimes it's better to use one's imagination than to see and be disappointed. The story's still good, tho'

Rating:
Summary: Really dated graphics, but then it's really old!
Review: Love the ZORK world. Have all of them and have played them. Like the sense of humor, love the puns. Remarkably, the text games actually stand the test of time better than Return to Zork with its clumbsy graphics and awkward play. Sometimes it's better to use one's imagination than to see and be disappointed. The story's still good, tho'

Rating:
Summary: Illogical, inconsistent, practically unplayable
Review: The best thing about this game is the music. It would be great if this was available on CD. The second best thing is the acting - the characters are likeable and interesting.

The second worst thing about this game is the graphics. The resolution is low (320x240 - it's an old game), and the environments are crudely built and lack detail.

The worst thing about this game is - the game itself. Now, Zork games are renowned for their wacky sense of humour and rather surreal puzzle solutions. This game, however, goes beyond wacky and into the far realms of utter crap. These are a few of my complaints:

-- MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT --

* Killing a non-player character generally ends the game - except when it doesn't. You must kill the three troll guards, but on the other hand you mustn't kill the troll king, even though he challenges you to try:
If you show him your sword, he pleads for his life and offers his necklace - but you can't actually get the necklace. Kill him, and he disappears, along with his necklace. What you must do is use the "threaten" icon in the conversation interface. He will then plead and offer the necklace exactly as above, except this time you will actually get the damned thing. The game logic here is faulty, to put it politely.
* Don't take the bra box - you will be called a thief, and lose the game. Instead, talk to the man in a nearby house, who will tell you to take the box as it is completely useless. Similar rules apply to the bat cage.
* But stealing IS okay when taking money and tickets from the cash register, or relieving Boos of his flask. Go figure.
* You must warm your hands before milking the cow. To do this you set fire to a clump of hay on a hay-strewn barn floor. Surely the logical result here would be barbequed cow?
* After you hitch a ride with a vulture, you can go to any location directly by clicking on your map - but the game doesn't tell you this, and you may well feel completely stuck.

Speaking of completely stuck, I am at the Citadel Bridge near the end, unable to cross. I think this is something to do with my being unable to take the Egg away from Canuk's hut. I have done everything noted in the walkthroughs but obviously not in the exact correct order. This bug has killed my game. Grrrr...

Rating:
Summary: Pass this one up
Review: This was an attempt to make a fully graphical Zork game in the tradition of Myst, and I think that while it had a few moments it was mostly a failure.

The good points: The music is nice and mapping the forests and swamps is pleasant work (I later found a map included in the game, d'oh.) The characters are kind of fun and the acting's decent. There are a couple of very funny moments.

The bad points: The graphics are lousy, but that can be forgiven. It's an old game, but the fact that they use video at the start of the game and lousy cartoony graphics the rest of the way is jarring. The story makes no sense. You're sent chasing after some villain who might or might not really be bad, and who might or might not be somebody you already talked to. The ending was a total WTF moment. The tasks are mostly unrelated to the quest at large and feel like busywork. The environment is very un-Zork-like. Playing the older games I always got a sense of an odd mixture of dungeons-and-dragons medieval settings and modern technology. This game looks like it's set in a farming town somewhere in the midwest. And the humor, aside from a few moments, mostly falls flat and feels like it's trying too hard.

Overall, I'd skip this one.