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Along with their twee and illogical King's Quest games, Sierra have been pursuing these Police games down the years. And they're not bad, refreshingly free of that "King Graham and his golden lavatory" rubbish.

Although the original's getting on now, it's still something of a seminal affair. Unfortunately, the graphics and text entry system are somewhat "seminal" too. You are, sadly, Sonny Bonds, a rozzer in the town of Lytton which has suddenly been invaded by evil drug barons headed by a bloke called the Death Angel. Very like High Wycombe, in fact. Much frivolity ensues as Sonny heads on a wacky chase to undercover the perps.

Actually, that's the problem, there isn't much fun to be had. Being a policeman, Sonny has to observe many many many strict procedures; and being a person playing a policeman, you must observe along with him. So there's a lot of form-filling and rigorous routines to play through, interspersed with the arrests, patrolling and shoot-outs. Fair enough, but they don't half get tedious after a bit. Couldn't they just skip the scenes in which you have to take felons to the station, and cut to the chase as it were? This is a game, after all.

Still, there's always the attractive graphics to gawp at while you're reading another perp his rights. They even get quite gruesome in places - if Sierra had been on the ball they could've slapped a "Parental Guidance Suggested" sticker on the box and boosted the sales. Oh - they have.

Onerous detail aside, this isn't a bad little number for its age. It's not too bogged down with the ridiculous Sierra "sudden death" syndrome, for once, so you actually feel inclined to explore rather than shiver in a corner. You'll never look at a policeman in the same way again - because if you do they're likely to arrest you for loitering with intent.

1. Lovely new graphics and interface. Potentially good story.

1. Not enough adventure and too much mundane routine.