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1948: the city of Berlin is split in two. Allied airlifts are the only connection West Berlin has with the rest of the world. But with the airlifts comes a crisis: a nuclear bomb has been smuggled into this divided city where the black market rules.

You, as Sam Porter, have to search Berlin for the bomb before Stalin gets his grubbies on it.

The game intro is most informative and its format is quite unusual in that the computer and an audio tape work in synchro to show a very detailed background to the plot in the style of a newsreel.

When play starts you see the streets of Berlin from above with your character, many other characters and vehicles all going about their business. Controlled entirely by mouse, you point and click to where you want to walk or on people with whom you wish to communicate.

The interaction system is fairly complex and fiddly to use. You click on a character and select the talk icon. You're then given the choice of whether to ask or tell them something and what, where and whom the conversation is to be about. Each option produces sub-options. Once you've fought your way through all this, you may still find that the person you're talking to knows nothing. Enter frustration. There are far too many icons to click through and it becomes a time-consuming effort to ask the right questions of the right people.

East Vs. West is a boring game apart from the intro and the few laughts you might get from reading the poorly translated manual (!). They can all blow themselves up as far as I'm concerned.