After The Vera Cruz Affair comes the much more mundane sounding Sidney Affair, but there's nothing mundane about the scene of the crime. James Sidney's bleeding body lies sprawled across a pavement in St. Etienne in France, where you have the good fortune to be a Detective Sergeant in the Crime Squad. James Sidney has the not-quite-so-good fortune of having a bullet through his bonce, and your job is to find out who put it there.
    Like Vera Cruz, you make a start by photographing the scene of the crime, this being done by moving a magnifying glass around the screen and pressing SPACE when it's over something you think might be of interest. An enlargement and some info is printed at the bottom of the screen. Unlike Vera Cruz, you get two introductory screens for the price of one, 'cos once you've given the body the once-over you can photograph the room opposite where you think the fatal shot was fired from.
    Part two links you up with the French police network, heavily computerised, and you can tap away at your keyboard to try to summon up the various research resources at your disposal. How about starting with a quick autopsy to discover the grisly details of the bullet in the cranium and the lack of burn marks and powder traces, indicating a shot from at least five metres away? Ballistics on the cartridge show exactly where it was fired from, but as you found the cartridge yourself in part one this shouldn't surprise you too much. A quick visit to Mrs Sidney reveals she has no idea who killed her hubby or why, and as far as she knew he had no enemies. So what's with the bullet in the brain, a friend playing a practical joke??
    Further enquiries are up to you, mes braves, and if you like the idea of playing detectives you'll enjoy this one. A sort of 'tecs only adventure?

Ratings given by other magazines

8/10      7/10

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