The sea has been the setting for many mysteries in the past, among them the unsolved mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle and the puzzle of the lost continent of Atlantis. And now, with Infocom's release of Seastalker, there is a new underwater mystery to titilate would-be detectives for years to come.


Seastalker pits the adventurer up above, in a comfortable laboratory stocked with all the modern conveniences, against the Snark, a mythical sea beast which is terrorizing the scientists in the Aquadome Underwater Research Station. As the leader of the corporation that created Aquadome and a member of the "Discovery Squad," the gamer has been commissioned (read: ordered) by the President to get everything working smoothly by the time he comes to christen the Aquadome and the firm's new mini-sub, the Scimitar.


No easy task this; the trouble starts as soon as the emergency call comes in over the videophone. Then it's touch and go as the gamer fights his way through a variety of problems, from the mundane, as in figuring out how the heck to get the Scimitar started, to the more unusual, as in how one goes about subduing a hideous sea monster which is larger than a submarine.


The problems are all devilishly simple once players work out the solutions, which are perfectly logical. And Infocom has included all necessary maps in the cleverly designed game package, as they did in Suspended. All of this leads up to one thing: Infocom bills Seastalker as the first in its line of "Junior Interactive Fiction."


In other words, Seastalker was designed for kids. The only problem is that most kids who are capable of understanding an 'adventure game are likely to enjoy the intricacies of complex games like Enchanter and Planetfall the most. In Seastalker, opening a closed door is never a matter of, for example, finding an oil can, oiling the control panel and crawling through the opening created by the resulting short circuit, but rather something to the order of "Open door." And, worst of all, if the player spends too much time on a given problem, the solution appears on the screen. True, one must refer to the "Infocards"
which accompany the game to decipher the solution, but it still is a bad idea to give away answers.


After all, who would pay $49.95 for an adventure game that poses no challenge?


On the other hand, aside from being overly simplified, Seastalker is a relatively good game. The story is interesting, and there are plenty of plot twists to hold the player's attention. The prose is magnificent, and the vocabulary tremendous. The game's locations are all mapped out, and so hold no surprises, but this is somewhat counteracted by the fact that there is a cast of nine very realistic, unique supporting characters who do their best to help - and hinder - the mission.


All in all, Seastalker is recommended.