A murder has been committed at Grantley Manor. It's your task, as a famous sleuth, to solve the crime within two hours, before the boys in blue arrive to do it for you. So, magnifying glass in hand you trot off to explore the building in an attempt to fathom who committed the foul deed and which weapon they used. The manor is positively teeming with quests, relatives and staff, any one of which could be the killer, so it's down to you to ask any suspect you encounter pertinent questions. This is done by means of a clever menu system: place the magnifying glass over your suspect and press fire.

When their picture appears in the frame to the right of the screen press on the question icon to access the interrogation menu. You can question anyone about anyone else and even find out if the deceased or the suspect has been 'involved' with someone they shouldn't (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more).

Once you've probed the suspects (nyuk, nyuk) for information, click on the notepad icon and all the beans they've spilled are automatically jotted down so that you can refer to them without having to question people a second time.

Examining weapons for fingerprints can help to bang the killer to rights. However, the murderer often wipes his or her prints from the relevant object. At this point, make like Perry Mason and 'tail' your suspect (that's detective talk for follow, folks) until an item is dropped. The prints on this can be compared with those on the murder weapon.

Finally, select your choice of murder weapon, find the culprit and slap on the cuffs. If you got it right, a newspaper page describes you as the best thing since film-length episodes of Columbo, complete with pictures of yourself and the apprehended murderer. If your guess was incorrect, a somewhat different headline is printed placing your detective abilities somewhere just below those of Inspector Clouseau. The graphics in Murder convey the atmosphere of a classic whodunnit, with their period, monochrome scenes. However, movement almost grinds to a halt when too many items and characters occupy the same room, which can grow slightly annoying when the game is afoot.

Sound is minimal but used to great effect: hushed whispers, dripping taps and owl hoots all bolster the eerie ambience. A lot of thought must have gone into them and all credit to the programmers for that.

An excellent feature which must be mentioned is the one that allows you to change the date at the start of the game which, in turn, alters the details of the crime committed. There's a different crime for every single day of the year - and there are lots of years! In all, there are over three million different murders to solve, each more difficult than the last.

After the first dozen crimes, the gameplay may become too too repetitive for all but the most ardent sleuths. The fact that many of the suspects look exactly the same also makes it difficult to locate one particular person. It would have been worth losing something else to rectify that.

Gripes aside, what we have here is a thoroughly enjoyable game which will delight would-be detectives and probably the majority of other games players besides.

1. Rigid gameplay grows repetitive all too quickly
2. Busy screens make the game frustratingly slow
3. Graphics are deliciously appropriate
4. A murder for every day of the year is a staggering prospect!
5. Computer-controlled suspects are wonderfully intelligent
6. Comprehensive menus allows you to say or do anything to suspects and weapons
7. Notepad of suspects' statements is dead useful!
8. Locations are nicely varied so you won't get hopelessly lost
9. Joystick control is fast enough to make the game comfortable
10. Clever use of spot effects aids the atmospheric cause
11. Inter-suspect relationships add immense realism