Grimblood - Mastertronic RRP œ4.99
                  (Graphic game, mouse-driven)

It's strange when a programmer who has brought out a lot of great
games suddenly goes quiet and you don't hear anything about them
for ages, and then they suddenly bring out two games in a really
short space of time.

Since his Lords of Midnight et al days back on the Spectrum, Mike
Singleton has done very little that I've been aware of. Then -
bang! Midwinter appears on the scene and within a few months
another game arrives .... Grimblood.

Described as a "Gothic whodunnit", Grimblood takes place in the
castle of the same name, built by a group called the Ritualists
who were exiled by the followers of the One Magic during a purge
called the Great Persecution. Isolated in their castle, the
Ritualists - named for the way they conduct their lives according
to specific rituals which they follow day in, day out - have
become extremely inbred and the Rituals have lost their meaning
and purpose as the inhabitants of the castle grow more and
more crazy. Only one person has escaped the madness, and luckily
it's you, Earl Maximus.

Then the insanity takes a more serious turn and a murder is
committed. Naturally the Ritualists are frightened and confused
but in their madness are unable to take any sensible action.
Slowly the murderer (or is it a murderess?) begins to pick off
the remaining Ritualists one by one. Only Earl Maximus, still
retaining his marbles, can unmask the killer and end the reign of
terror.

Before you start to play Grimblood, it's worth turning up the
sound on your TV because the game makes a lot of use of digitized
speech. At first the speech is a novelty but after a while you
realise that it's just as well the words are also printed on the
screen because the intonation is pretty awful.

Grimblood is essentially Cluedo reworked with a new storyline,
more characters, more weapons and more rooms, because you're told
at the start who has been killed, who found them and in which
room and what instrument they were killed with.  Unfortunately it
isn't more enthralling than the boardgame. The graphics are
excellent with different screens for interrogation of characters,
travelling round the castle and examining anything you find but
the game itself left me cold.

The main Castle Screen depicts the exterior of the building with
turrets and lit windows which can be selected with a click of
the mouse to identify the room within. The bottom of the screen
shows the young Earl on the right and various scenes on the left
according to your last action. If you've identified a room, a
small graphic of the interior will appear here and a mouse-click
in this area will then allow you to travel to that room. When you
arrive at your destination, a close-up of Maximus' eyes will
replace the interior graphic while a larger, more detailed
graphic of the room (showing any furniture, people and objects
present) replaces the main graphic. Clicking on Maximus' eyes
will allow you to look closer at any objects in the room and

clicks on other parts of the screen will let you peer through
doorways, search for secret passages and so forth.

When you encounter a suspect you can ask several questions via an
Interrogation Screen. There include questions like "Where were
you at the time of the murder?", "Was anyone with you?" and "Are
you carrying anything?" You can also order people to go to a
particular room and stand watch for a specified amount of time
though whether they take any notice or not is up to them! You can
accuse them of being the murderer if you feel confident!

If you take too long, the killer will strike again and again.
Even you may be the next victim. In the end, I didn't really care
what happened to either the inhabitants or Maximus. With names
like Hysteria and Rubella, I didn't have much sympathy for them.
Grimblood may be inexpensive but a good book would be a better
buy and give more long-lasting enjoyment!

                                        Sue