@~Only one AGT review this issue for ...

            The Detective - author Kit W. Carson
           (Text adventure for ST, PC and Amiga)

               Reviewed by Grimwold on a PC

Now, if you're at all like me, you don't like detective type games
very much. The idea of finding clues, interrogating suspects
before finally tracking down and apprehending the murderer or
whatever, leaves me cold.

Perhaps it's just me.  Obviously not everyone feels this way or
there wouldn't be detective-style games at all.  Perhaps I'm not
the best person to do this review, but since I've kindly been
given this game to do just that, I'll give it a crack.

"You are detective John L. Bloom. You have just been hired to find
a missing man by his wife."

Since this man has an office in the same block as yourself, you
think it would be easiest to pop along and see if he's in. (Why
his wife doesn't do this isn't explained, since she must have
walked past it to get to your office.) Arriving at his office, you
find the door open and everything in a mess. Amongst the strewn
papers you find a few clues, and a bit of blood.

There is a plethora of objects lying about waiting to be picked up
and innumerable doors to be opened or to have their locks picked.
There's also a lot of nasty animals which don't seem to be minded
by the owners of the office block and which can kill you within a
couple of turns if you aren't prepared. Just how the cleaners cope
with these is a mystery.

Written using AGT, the adventure suffers from the usual drawbacks
of that utility, such as a limited parser, and all that entails.
The game is written by an American, as is perhaps the norm, and is
full of 'Americanisms' - something that I don't particularly like
anyway.  There are also a fair amount of spelling mistakes and
grammatical errors.

Maybe I'm being too hard on this game, I've no doubt some people
will spend a couple of enjoyable hours plodding through the
different offices and collecting dozens of objects.

Sorry Kit, but this game just isn't my cup of tea.

Grimwold's Rating: 5/10











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