THE MURDER OF JANE KRANZ - Author: Christian Andersen A Text Adventure for PC (disk 553) & ST (disk 571) Review by Bev Truter This is yet another AGT adventure, constructed in the classic whodunnit style. It is quite short, at 40 locations, and can probably be solved in a couple of hours. Although English is obviously not Andersen's native language, the structure of this smallish game was intriguing enough for me to gloss over, at times, awkward phrasing and expression. The Murder of Jane Kranz is apparently "Freeware", as there was no request for either registration or a donation to the author. This adventure/detective game is the first PD/homegrown attempt I've seen at writing a classic murder story, where you play the part of a detective called in to assist the local constabulary in solving a murder which has them baffled. The year is 1922, the start of the Roaring Twenties. You play the part of Pete Sharpeye, Private Detective, called in to help the Inspector find the person/s responsible for the murder of Jane Kranz. The victim was found lying in the library of a rambling old house in Victoria St., London. After entering the house and showing identification to the constable on duty, you are escorted to the livingroom where the Inspector and the 8 suspects are assembled. The Inspector explains who found the body, and where, and also gives a brief run-down of all the alibis of the assorted suspects. You can ask the Butler about the body (he found the victim), and ask each person about their alibi. You can also examine each person, which gives you a description of their age, clothing and behaviour/state of mind. The idea of the game is to search the house for clues, which gradually lead you towards guessing the killer's identity and making an accusation, and for each clue you discover points are added to your score. There are 7 clues altogether, hidden in various places about the house, and you can only make an accusation (by entering "SOLUTION") when your score has reached the maximum of 100 points. This, unfortunately, was an annoying weakness in the game. You could probably guess the murderer's identity long before scoring 100, but you have to plod on to the bitter end before typing "solution", otherwise you are thrown back to DOS for not abiding by the rules. Clues range from documents like a letter and diary, to more concrete evidence like a wisp of hair. When you enter "solution" and correctly guess the killer's identity, you are given a few screenfuls of the entire story behind the murder, explaining exactly what happened and why, although by then you have probably guessed exactly what happened, and why. The story has been well-constructed and thought out, with a couple of red herrings thrown in for good measure. There seemed to be a huge logical flaw noticeable at the game's conclusion though, where the plot fell apart because of a hole in the reasoning behind the Inspector's explanation of the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the victim's body. One other very minor bug, or oversight, which provides an unintentional spot of humour occurs when you try to move the body. In AGT all nouns defined as "creatures" in the data file are assigned a standard response when "pushed" or "touched", and the latter is a synonym for the former. So...........when you attempt to move the victim's body by entering "push body", you get the standard response assigned to a female creature - "the body smiles at you.." All very alarming, when all I wanted to do was search under the body for a clue...... Although this game is fairly short, that is probably a plus factor, because if it was longer and/or bigger I think boredom might overcome novelty. However, it made a nice change to move around a house looking for clues instead of treasures, and discovering each clue definitely gives one a warm glow of smug satisfaction! So for those of you who fancy a spot of sleuthing, give this a try. ENJOYMENT: 5/10 ATMOSPHERE: 4/10 LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: 4/10 FINAL COMMENT: Worth taking a look at. - o -