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Matt Lucas is an adventure in the Miami Vice vein. You play the eponymous detective; you have a Ferrari and a boat (though no crocodile). One of the graphics even features a face which, if you squint, looks like Don Johnson. Your colleague Harpinger has been kidnapped; rescue him, and in so doing clear up some of the other vice in the unnamed Florida city. The detection here is not in the Sherlock style; more traditional adventure hazards must be overcome (how to enter a flat, fuel your boat etc).

What is interesting about Matt Lucas is that it is GACed and GACed well. The other GACed games I've reviewed - including the ones from Incentive themselves - have performed badly in comparison with Quilled adventures. Matt Lucas shows what can be done. Adding a redefined character set and using colour better make much difference, and show up GAC's good points - static graphics, multiple command entry, GET ALL etc. Mind you, I still feel GAC's response time is too slow.

As an adventure, Lucas is aimiable enough, though generally primitive. There's no true attempt at realism, neither in the portrayal of the locations, nor in the nature of the detective work. Compared with CRL's Murder Off Miami, Lucas becomes laughably crude. But the puzzles are pleasant enough to while some time away with. The vocabulary is, sadly, very small; and the game responses are extremely limited (for example, you can TIP VASE UP to remove a note, but you cannot SMASH or BREAK it).

Matt Lucas is a respectable enough budget title, but nothing special.