Give me the facts, man

I'm not usually at a loss for words about where to categorise a computer game, but this time I felt the need for a Pimms No.1 to aid contemplation. Even then, all I came up with was Whodunnit.

Herewith the Clues is based on a collaboration between thriller writer Dennis Wheatley and a friend, Joe Links.

In the years immediately between the World Wars a number of crime dossiers were produced which challenged readers to name the guilty party. The dossiers provided all the information - clues and the like - needed to come up with a solution.

Now the same thing is possible for Archimedes owners - and what a good idea it is, particularly if you enjoy reading detective fiction. In its way, the implementation of Herewith The Clues is as good as that of Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less was indescribably awful.

The package consists of two discs and a few extra items which lend atmosphere. The storyline is as topical today as it was when first produced - an IRA cell which operates in London's West End has been uncovered.

The anti-terrorist authorities are mounting an operation to break up the cell, securing as many convictions as possible. They've managed to get Detective-Sergeant Spigott appointed as doorman at the Milky Way Club in Mayfair. He soon learns that a meeting of the whole IRA cell - 16 members in all - is planned for the night of May 23, 1939.

Spigott got the job because the police were able to lean on Serge Orloff who owns the Milky Way. Orloff is an ex-Bolshevik with Trotskyite leanings who quite sensibly decided that the Soviet Union wasn't a healty place to inhabit once Stalin began his paranoid purges.

However, Orloff has been stupid enough to get involved in the drug scene. The IRA cell members have discovered this second secret and have forced Orloff to join them and allow them to use a secret room used to store drugs as a meeting place and cache for their weapons and explosives.

The threat of deportation to Mother Russia and a bullet in the back of the neck was enough to make Serge as co-operative as anyone could wish, though he rightly feared what the IRA cell would do if they discovered he was informing on them. Poor Serge is caught between a rock and a hard place.

Because they reckon this is no ordinary cell but probably the IRA Central Council for the UK main land, the authorities decide to mount a raid on the Milky Way Club once all the members are present: It would be a fantastic coup. Only something goes horribly wrong.

The raid was timed for 1.10 am, but 15 minutes before a number of things happened which threw the whole operation into chaos. Two shots rang out, causing club customers to panic and start rushing out. Detective-Sergeant Spigott was trampled in the rush and knocked unconscious. Minutes after the shooting, a massive explosion occurred in the premises in Shepherds Market, where the secret room was located. As a result, all the IRA men bar one escaped.

When police finally entered the club they found a body. Serge Orloff had been shot through the heart near the locked door to the secret room and the key was chained to his corpse.

All you have to do, dear friends, is decide who the murderer is: Simple, isn't it? The game provides all the clues and information needed and you have to sift and evaluate the information.

Several reports give a wealth of background information. There are brief dossiers on each of the cell members, a list of exhibits to examine and a set of photographs - black and white, of course - showing each person belonging to the cell and an extremely dead Serge Orloff.

All can be examined and mulled over by clicking the pointer - a magnifying glass - on the item you wish to see more closely. If it's a photograph or one of the exhibits you'll be told - in the best speech I've yet heard - Please insert disc two.

I've not come across anything quite so intriguing for a long time as Herewith The Clues, and if you enjoy a good detective puzzle with excellent atmosphere this is the game for you. I recommend it unreservedly.

Mad Hatter