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The object of the game, as they say, is to guide Stringer, ace reporter for the Daily Blurb round the hotel in search of Polly Platinum, the blonde bombshell staying there.

In true street of shame style the erstwhile hack has to snoop around all the rooms looking for her. He must also find his equipment, a camera, flash bulb, press pass and key, which someone (my guess is it's the programmer) has unhelpfully scattered around the hotel. If that wasn't enough you've got a deadline to meet, and if his editor's anything like mine, he'll probably get nailed to his typewriter if he's late.

It's still all far too simple, so just to complicate matters there's an irate hotel commissionaire who pursues you up and down the levels. Yes, this is a platform and ladder style affair. Open the wrong door and you'll also let out a Mr. Angry hotel guest who'll join the hue and cry in his pyjamas. The idea is quite nice, but the gameplay is limited. Successful completion of your mission just takes you onto another level of more of the same.

Control of Stringer is straightforward enough. It helps if you make him jump when the nasties are a bit close, or leap across a gap which they can't follow you over. Watch your footing though, or you'll end up falling off a ladder. Unfortunately, he can't go into the bar, which is rather an omission for a hack.

Stringer isn't that special a game, but what it does, it does quite well. It's not bad, just a bit mediocre.