77. Murder

(Amiga, Kingsley Harrison, 1990)
Do you know what I'm awesome at? Cluedo.
Im a man of very few talents, any I may have I lack confidence with, but if you're reading this, I can beat you at Cluedo.
It comes from playing it constantly as a child, I'm not sure what it was about the game, maybe the tension, maybe the red-hot Miss Scarlett, or maybe the idea that someone designed a family favourite around a man's death. In any case, I loved Cluedo and its various spin-offs. So when I was made aware of a murder mystery game coming to home computers, I was most certainly up for it.

Out of interest, I was made aware of its release by this shocking cover of ZZAP! magazine which was quite grisly for the time (Click for full):
Designed by the duo of Grant Harrison and Jason Kingsley, Murder was released for the Amiga by classic publishers U.S Gold. An isometric point and click game, The player controlled a detective who had to solve a murder that had taken place at a country estate, The detective had two hours real time to apprehend the suspect before Scotland Yard arrived and took the case out of his hands. Essentially the game consisted of searching rooms for items, fingerprints and other clues whilst interrogating guests and house staff about any possible motives, opportunities and alibis. Through careful interrogation, thorough searching and even a bit of forensics, you can point your finger at the guilty man (or woman) and go home noticeably smugger than you were when you arrived.

Murder is passable borderline good. It has nicely drawn graphics that lack colour (as an attempt to create a "period" feel) There were allegedly around 3 million cases to solve (randomly generated by you selecting the date at the start) and various levels of difficulty. A nice touch allowed you to customize the look of your detective.
While Murder IS a good mystery game, it can be a little boring, with you often traipsing through rooms and sweeping them with your cursor for clues, then moving to another room and repeating the process.

However, it was still a decent challenge which required some elements of lateral thinking, elimination and even a bit of forensic matching years before terrible CSi games were being developed. The critics were confused with Murder, some claiming it genius while others found it dull.
Its neither, it's a good murder mystery game, that requires logical thinking and efficient investigation, but it really isn't an all time classic.

(As an aside, A C64 version was finished and even sent for review but, a mystery in itself, it was never released.)