Suspect - Infocom/Activision (Deleted)
                       (Text-only)

                  Reviewed by Terry Roberts

     There seems to be a continuing interest in the old Infocom 
adventures and although most are only available from a handful of 
suppliers on an irregular basis, they are well worth getting hold 
of. As most of you will know, these adventures fall into 
categories and my favourites are the "Mystery" set, ranging from 
MOONMIST (Introductory level) through WITNESS and BALLYHOO 
(Standard level) to SUSPECT at Advanced level. I believe DEADLINE
is classed as Expert level, but I reckon that SUSPECT is the most 
challenging! 

     Solutions to the four versions of MOONMIST are being 
published in SYNTAX and this is an excellent introduction to this 
type of Infocom. WITNESS has been described as easy, but if you 
are new to this type of adventure, you will perhaps find it 

difficult to get into. My advice is to play them in order of 
difficulty, namely MOONMIST, WITNESS and then SUSPECT.

     Sorry for the preamble, but it hopefully sets the scene. In 
SUSPECT, as in WITNESS, it is not possible to monitor progress by 
accumulating points because there is a mystery to be solved. You 
need to collect clues and evidence to solve the mystery. Whereas 
in WITNESS a murder takes place and you are stuck with solving it,
in SUSPECT you find yourself as the prime suspect and have to do 
whatever is necessary to divert suspicion. The situation is as 
follows.
     
     On Halloween night you (a newspaper reporter) are invited to 
the annual Costume Ball at Ashcroft Farm by old friend Veronica. 
It is fancy dress and you turn up as a cowboy. As you mingle with 
all the toffs you join a group by the fireplace and Veronica, 
dressed as a fairy queen, has an accident with her drink and spills 
it down her dress. Off she goes to clear it up - and the next time 
she is seen, she is dead in the office, strangled with your own 

lariat! The rest of the game is spent trying to prove your 
innocence. 

     This type of Infocom can be really frustrating and I know a
number of players who get bored with the gameplay. The reason is
that it is tempting to ask characters about others and to try to
follow suspects about and this approach gets nowhere. If you
follow Veronica your path is blocked until the murder has taken
place, so you need a different strategy. 

     Play the game several times and wait or hide in certain
locations. The action is timed and some events in the game always
take place at a fixed time. So you can gradually build up a
picture of what is happening and who could be the murderer(s).
Collect evidence and try to sort out the genuine clues from the
red herrings, and use the friendly detective.

     This is an old style Infocom which is text-only with no hint 
facility, but I wish they still made them this way. The game loads 
in no time and you are away. One MUST, however - DO AVOID LOOKING 
AT THE SOLUTION IF YOU GET STUCK! It is difficult to peek at the 
solution without seeing too much and spoiling the fun. SUSPECT is 
intricate but gives a real feeling of satisfaction when you 
realise one or two key facts, so plod on (no pun intended) and 
enjoy it.