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Spellbreaker (Text Adventure)
Compatibility: 48K Apple II series
Requirements: One disk drive; second drive optional
Having crunched the evil warlock Krill to win your wizard spurs, and junked Jeearr, the evil demon, to achieve leadership of the Circle of Enchanters, you are as ready as you'll ever be for the "final conflict between good and evil"! (promises, promises...) Once again a crisis has befallen the kingdom, as spells flop, rat ants run wild, and everywhere there is chaos and confusion.
But it is at an emergency conclave of the Guild of Enchanters that the final blow of your mysterious adversary's opening moves is delivered. For scarcely have the masters concluded their litany of woes when the hall is suddenly filled with a host of jibbering newts, toads, and salamanders. Normally, such opportunistic showing off would incure an appropriate reprimand from the guildmasters. Unfortunately, except for yourself, these bleeping tararium dropouts ARE the guildmasters!
As volume three of the Enchanter Saga, Spellbreaker continues a series tradition; that is, the game bears remarkably little resemblance to its predecessors. To be sure, some of the persona, such as your venerable mentor Belboz, are familiar; as are placename references (Flathead Mountains, etc.). You still begin with a few stock spells such as "Frotz" to make something give off light, and "Gnusto" to transfer spells from scrolls to your spell book. Too, spell scrolls remain among the more valuable items you can find.
The differences, however, are striking. First, the game landscape is mostly broken up into many, very different, three to five-room pockets. The guildhall area, a grue cave, and a volcano are examples. Transport among these pockets is effected via application of the "Blorple" spell on featureless white cubes. So blorpling one cube might take you to the "Air Room"; whereas blorpling another would zip you to the grue cave. There are many of these cubes to collect and (hint) a clever box that can help you tell one from another.
Pitting you against the most elusive of adversaries, Spellbreaker is certainly deserving of Infocom's "advanced level" rating. Vengeful idols, giant rocs, and sneezing ogres are just a few of the colorful characters you will encounter, each involved in one or another puzzle within puzzles.
Parsing is necessarily very good; and, with fast, multi-position save/restore, testing solutions is a snap. Typicall, the game is well supported with such goodies as an enchanter's guild pin, famous wizard trading cards, and a Magic Equipment Catalog chocked with great gift-giving ideas (e.g. "What can we say about the wonders of lizards that hasn't been said already? ..." so true). Logical, long-playing, and with a nice touch of humor, Spellbreaker is a worthy continuation of the best text adventure series ever published.
Available from Infocom: 125 Cambridge Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140. (617) 492-1031. $49.95
GRFX S.M. PLAY DIFF INTR GAME
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