Corruption - Magnetic Scrolls œ24.95

                  Reviewed by Neil Shipman

"Derek, that Scott Electronics deal did brilliantly." That's what
David  Rogers  said.  "I'm offering you a partnership  in Rogers
and Rogers, starting next month. What do you say?"

Obviously  you accepted.  I mean you've been working towards this
for years.  And that deal was a touch of genius if you do say so
yourself. Of course, moving into senior management does have its
benefits - like the BMW you are driving. Very nice. Then there's
the salary rise and the new offices. Things are looking good.

You turn into the office car park and head up to reception, 
briefcase at the ready. "Bang on time Derek," says David as he 
shakes your hand. "Nice to see you.  First things first,  I'll 
show you your office."  He takes  you  up  to the second floor 
and  introduces  you  to  Margaret Stubbs, your new secretary, 
before showing you into your office.

This is the start of Corruption, a tale of dodgy goings-on in 
the City. You name it and they're up to it, living life in the
fast lane and  it doesn't matter who gets in the way.  But are 
things really  as good  as they seem for you?  Maybe it's you 
that's going to be in the way of the more ruthless City 
slickers!

In fact, you very soon find out that your partner is just one of
the people who've got it in for you and it isn't long before 
you're up  in court  for insider dealing - and probably a few 
other crimes as  well. Can  you turn the tables on your enemies
and make sure that it's  them and not you who end up behind bars 
- or worse?

Corruption  is a bang up to date "detective" story in which your 
main weapon is information - although there are, of course, 
various objects to  use too.  You must find out as much as you 
can and tell the  right people to convince them that you're 


really on the straight and narrow. This is achieved  mainly 
by the use of the  commands Ask and Tell someone About something 
but you'll need to Show and Give items as well.

Throughout  your day at the office many other characters move
around and  are up to all sorts of activities, so it's essential
to keep an eye  on the clock (which advances 1 minute for every 
move) and make a note of who does what, where and when. Wait 
Until a certain time and Follow someone are two very useful 
commands here.

I was impressed by the different responses I got from characters 
according to where I was at what time of day and what 
information  I'd managed to find out so far.  The wealth of 
detail is staggering -  you seem to be able to examine nearly 
everything in sight - and the  whole adventure is written in a
nice, jokey style which I enjoyed.


For those unfamiliar with Magnetic Scrolls adventures, the 
parser can cope with complex commands as well as recognising 
many  abbreviations, and  the  function keys can be programmed 
with  your  most  often-used inputs.

The  graphics (24  in all) are up to  Magnetic  Scrolls' usual
high standard but I found when I'd seen them once there was 
little point in keeping them turned on.

In  addition to the disk the packaging includes a number of 
pages  for you to put in your yuppie filofax (some of which hold
vital clues,  so read  them carefully), an audio tape and, for 
the high-rollers, a gambling chip for use in the casino. 

Many of the responses are amusing but, for further laughs, you 
might try to kiss both male and female characters, hit 
everybody in  sight, examine the screwdriver and get the ducks.

There  are  a  couple of fatal bugs in the game and I  found 
that it crashed  on  numerous occasions when I was in the  

hospital.  It  also crashed once when I tried to look in the 
mirror in the bathroom -  but perhaps  that was just my ugly 
mug! Anyway, the bugs don't seem to occur every time and don't
prevent you from finishing, so do persevere with the adventure.

When  I'd  played  it once I found it was worthwhile going back
and trying out different things. There's so much in it that you're
bound to miss a lot first time round. That said, there are a 
number  of locations  where  nothing  of much interest goes on 
and  where  your interaction  with  the other characters does 
little to help in your efforts to beat Corruption. They seem to 
be  there  mainly  for atmosphere/scenery  and I felt that more
could have been made of them by the inclusion of a few more 
puzzles.

I don't normally like detective type adventures because of the
amount of time spent hanging around waiting to see what the 
other  characters are  up to and the feeling that when I do 

find some useful  nugget  of information it's perhaps more by 
good luck than good judgment. In this respect Corruption is no 
different but,  probably because of the style in which it's 
written, it really appealed to me and was an  enjoyable 
exception to my general rule.

                                  Neil Shipman