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Can there be many people who have not, at some time, played the great Waddingtons' Cluedo board game? Existing in a kind of sub-Agatha Christie world of Colonel Mustards and Reverend Greens and dark deeds done in the library or billiard room with a candlestick or piece of lead piping, the game always conjures up a childhood Christmas afternoon to me.

The computer version doesn't quite manage that atmosphere, but it is playable and a credible adaptation of the original. The play takes place on a board shaped like a country house and the aim is to move around the house gathering clues to the murderer's identity, before making an accusation. There are mental puzzles to solve along with a fair bit of misdirection of other players in a decent game.

Clues form an important part of the game and it is in the disclosure of these that the game reveals the drawback of a computer version - you must cover part of the screen so that other players do not cheat and look. Obviously cards would have been too bulky but it still does not look like an ideal solution.

If I were young again this Christmas I'd certainly enjoy playing this computer version, but I'm afraid that my general bias against computer versions of board games makes the marking a little severe.

This will not be a number one hit but, despite the high price (no doubt caused by the royalties demanded by Waddingtons), it is a lot of fun and should entertain the whole family for once and not just the computer addicts.

Dave Reeder