MURDER MYSTERY WEEKEND
       By Jonathan Scott / Zenobi Software RRP œ2.99

        Reviewed by Jenny Perry under P.C. emulation

As some people may have heard I haven't been one of Jonathan's
greatest fans in the past. After playing (and hugely enjoying)
this game I have now joined his fan club!  The adventure is
loosely based on last year's Adventure Convention, held in
Birmingham. Don't be put off by this - you can still play & enjoy
the game if you haven't been to any of the Conventions - it may
even spur you on to come and join in this year's fun.

@~See the Editorial for details of this year's event ... Sue

You start the game as you park in the multi-storey car park by the
hotel. After restarting the game a large number of times when
thieving Brummies pinched my suitcase I decided to leave it in the
boot and check in. There is an obscure hint on your map which you
must use at one of the early locations, which consist of an
apparently unmanned desk at the hotel's reception area, a subway
passage and the bit of the foyer where we hang around waiting for
taxis. You can explore the hotel without checking in, and after
being extremely cruel to a poor defenceless chef you will find the
means of revealing someone at the reception counter. Perhaps you
can find someone or something to get your luggage to the hotel in
one piece too.

When you find your room and hastily unpack your suitcase you can
meet your friends downstairs. Chatting to them produces some
useful (and accurate!) information which you will need later on in
the game. By now your ticket will have blown away on the
Birmingham breeze - you may know where it is but you need a
navigator to find it. Anyone who also reads Adventure Probe or who
has attended a Convention will have a quiet chuckle when you find
out who to ask for assistance. (This is the person who I had
planned to send a map of the M25 for help for their journey from
the North to Birmingham). Honesty pays dividends on the first day
- if you don't replace things exactly how you found them or hand
in lost items you will be arrested later on, as I discovered to my
cost, twice. You will also get rather hungry trying to clear up
the various posers so you and your friends all pile off to a local
restaurant where you will not be allowed to leave until you have
deciphered a leprechaun's riddle.

Only when you have solved all the first day's puzzles will you be
tired enough to sleep. Jonathan has caught the frantic atmosphere
of the Conventions nicely here - nobody wants to retire to their
rooms too early as they don't want to miss out on the fun - so
there is a mini adventure in your dreams.  Needless to say I got
stuck many a time.

The next day is the day of the Convention itself. Jonathan has
accurately recorded the type of activities that go on here.
Everybody wants you to do them a favour and you have a limited
time to oblige them all. Before anybody mentions nuts, I would
just like to say in my defence that I was chatting to Mark
Oulighan at the time and didn't realise they were Jonathan's nuts
I was nibbling!  I'm sure at the next Convention I will be

barraged with packets of nuts, rather like Larry Horsefield is
presented with 20 or so shower caps.

At the end of the day you can choose 2 meal options - I chose to
have a Chinese meal. Again you will not be allowed to leave until
you have performed 3 miracles - and you can only ask one person
for help once. You would think you'd be exhausted by now, but this
is the Convention weekend and you really don't want to miss out so
you decide to gatecrash the Murder Mystery evening back at the
hotel. Initially you're barred as you are too old - the Cliff
Richard fans may be able to help you out here. I tried all sorts
of insulting inputs here but sadly there was no memory left for
relevant responses.  When you eventually sneak into the Murder
evening you can interrogate the suspects and hopefully arrest the
guilty culprit.

This game is worth its weight in gold. It is quite a long
adventure (it took me 4 weeks flat out) but not too difficult to
map. Anyone who has ever been to a Convention will appreciate the
people and locations you encounter and everybody else will love
the humour and the puzzles. If anyone wants to join in this year,
come along on October 11th - who knows; you may feature in the
sequel.

@~To buy your own copy, contact Zenobi Software at 26 Spotland
@~Tops, Cutgate, Rochdale, Lancs. OL12 7NX.













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