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Death Cruise might sound like a disaster movie, but in fact it's opening a new field in the home micro market: disaster software. However, it purports to be a version of Cluedo on a cruise liner.

Dr. Sinister, disguised as a crew member or passenger on the Pacific 1, has smuggled a bomb on board ship. You have to identify the doctor, discern what the bomb is disguised as, and locate the room where the detonator is hidden.

Death Cruise has a one player version and a version for four players, and comes with four pages of instructions.

The ship has five decks and five rooms per desk, with 25 objects and 49 people on board. You can roam from room to room with 50 commands at your disposal. At any point you can type SUSPECT and input your three suspects, as long as all three are there with you.

It seems grossly unfair but if by chance your three suspicions are correct then you lose the game. The procedure is, when you're sure of your findings, you must type ACCUSE and get all three right to win the game.

Commands are kept simple, such as TAKE, PICK, DROP or GO.

Finding myself on Deck One I explored all five rooms. I moved to Deck Two and typed GO tv ROOM. "No such place" it said. I tried variations, such as GO TV ROOM, but the same answer came back despite the TV Room on Deck Two mentioned in the instructions. On Deck Three I tried GO COFFEE SHOP. "No such place" I was told, again contradicting the instructions. GO CINEMA then? "You're on the wrong deck." Not according to the instructions, I wasn't. GO DECK FIVE, I tried. "No such deck," I was informed.

I broke into the program to find that the data stored there contradicted completely the instructions. The program lists four decks, not five, and many of the rooms are located in different places!

Even without these not inconsiderable drawbacks, the game was proving something of a dodo. I can't imagine why anyone would want to waste money on this, when you could buy the original board game and have much more fun.