Rainbird
£15.95 disk only

Set in the vicious world of high finance, Corruption explores a topical subject - insider-dealing. To the uninitiated, this illegal practice involves using sensitive, confidential and privileged company information to make a huge profit by buying and selling shares on the Stock Exchange. Buy when the shares are cheap and are going to rise suddenly - before a takeover bid - and sell when the shares are expected to make a sharp drop - just before a company goes bankrupt. The plot thickens with the additional shady dealings in drugs - especially cocaine - which high-powered executives snort through silver straws.

Derek Rogers has just been promoted to a full partner in the stockbroking firm of Rogers and Rogers (Rodgers the Dodgers? - Ed). Along with his new job he also gets a new office, a secretary and the obligatory BMW. But behind this respectable façade David Rogers, Derek's partner, is up to no good. The Porsche-driving David is up to his neck in corrupt deals and the Fraud Squad are onto his trail. Being of a devious and indeed sinister nature, David decides to frame his unknowing partner, Derek.

The adventure commences on the day of Derek's promotion. Your cunning colleague is already scheming behind your back, forging evidence which he intends to plant on you. Resorting to violence against this slimy reptile is of no use - hitting him results in David spouting some bad language and knocking you out! When you awaken, you find yourself in a police cell and the Fraud Squad have found the evidence to convict you for insider-dealing. Best to play it thoughtfully.

Derek's only hope is to recover the evidence to make sure that David grabs the 'wrong edge of the blade'. An air of mystery and suspense is created by the strange goings-on at the firm. There are odd substances hidden in toilet cisterns and secretaries who won't even let you use the phone (you're so well thought of that your office doesn't have one).

To aid the player in this perplexing scenario, the packaging contains many useful hints in the filofax-style documentation. This includes a helpful diary/address book, a casino gambling chip (!), and a cassette containing conversations between David and Derek. Also recorded on the cassette is some pleasant Corruption (not corrupted) music to listen to while you're wandering around the London streets.

As in previous Magnetic Scrolls adventures, Corruption features a highly sophisticated parser which is necessary for the extensive character interaction involved in proving Derek's innocence. Problems involving objects are limited mainly to the simple 'key unlocks door' type. Derek seems to be able to carry an infinite number of items, removing the all too typical problem of careful object selection. This freedom epitomises the general feel of Corruption, Derek has few restrictions. The real problems involve manipulating the many characters which Derek meets on his travels. Trying to extract valuable clues from them while hiding your devious intent is particularly hard.

Unfortunately, most of the people working at Rogers and Rogers are distinctly curt and unhelpful. Miss Jenkins, David's secretary, is particularly touchy and can certainly not be trusted. In fact she seems virtually illiterate and blurts out things like 'You're confusing me wiv all them big words'. (Get your LMLWD out, luv - Ed.) The only thing she knows is how to shred David's incriminating documents, whilst the only things she can file are her nails!

Success can only be achieved by being cunning and daring - search your colleagues' offices while they're out. Mind you, Derek's plight provokes much sympathy - even his bitchy wife is having an affair with David, and now she wants a divorce. (It doesn't rain, it pours - Ed.) The poor guy can't win! With the sinister scenario it's a relief that the odd bit of humour is present: in the hospital TV room there's even a teddy bear named Boris, with a stethoscope (could come in useful?) round his neck!(?)

Corruption is a deep and intriguing adventure. Although the Spectrum version lacks the graphics of those on other machines, it loses nothing in atmospheric qualities. The modern setting also makes a refreshing change from the usual diet of mythical scenarios - an extremely professional package which might prove a little too difficult for novices. With so few adventures around, this has got to be one for the adventure alcove.

FAX BOX
Title: Corruption
Publisher: Rainbird, 74 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1PS
Price: £15.95 (+3 version only)
Reviewer: Mike Gerrard

The day started well. That Scott Electronics deal you handled had done brilliantly, according to your boss, David Rogers, and he'd offered you a partnership in his broking firm, Rogers & Rogers. That means you get a new office, a new secretary and a BMW. It's nice in the morning, your first day as a partner and David welcomes you and shows you to the new office. Mind you, it looks a lot Like the old office - the same chair and filing cabinet, the same desk, and still no phone. A yuppie without a phone? That's like a fish without chips.

Noting your lack of enthusiasm, David tells you the firm will be moving to new offices soon anyway and asks you to take a list of early bookings to the dealing room at the end of the corridor. If you follow him out through your secretary's office, though, you hear him tell her that he'll see her later, and he says that he'll need her signature on a cheque. A secretary co-signing a cheque? Strange, you might think, but that's not the only strange thing you're going to find as you wander round the offices this morning.

Down in David's secretary's office there's a perfumed letter on top of the shredding machine, although his secretary won't allow you near it. 'It's really easy to lose a finger in them fings,' she tells you. But nature takes its course and you get your hands on the letter and read it. 'Dear Ticklepot. Just a short note as Derek will be home soon. I can't wait to see you again. Last time was fantastic. Ring me on Monday after Derek gets there. Love and stuff, Jenny XXX.' Now there's something not quite right about this. What is it? And isn't that handwriting vaguely familiar? Of course! You're Derek, and Jenny's your wife!! in which case, who the hell is Ticklepot?? The fact that the letter's on the shredding machine right outside the door to David Rogers' office might be a teensy weensy clue.

Perhaps there's another clue contained on the cassette tape that's in David's desk... that is, once you've found out how to get through the locked door, whch yet again his secretary is anxious to prevent you from doing. Play the tape on the stereo in your new BMW and you find out that one side contains a recording of the meeting you had with David to discuss your promotion, as far as you remember it, while on the other side is the same meeting - but definitely not as you remember it! So what's going on?

The cassette tape comes as part of the packaging, and Corruption is, as you're no doubt aware, the latest adventure from Magnetic Scrolls. And a very different kettle of adventurous fish it is, too. No Kerovnian capers here, but instead a tale of deadly intrigue set in the fast-paced yuppie world of London's commodity and currency dealers. Don't bother looking for treasure, you've already got that if the BMW is anything to go by, but watch out you don't get stabbed in the back as you get involved in the corruption that's going on somewhere - and you may even get blamed for it all! Some kind of white powder could be involved, but you'll only find that out if you go to the toilet at the right time!

In fact being in the right place at the right time is an important factor in this game, as is asking the various office employees about each other. I tend not to like this style of adventure, and I admit that my copy of Corruption was lying around for a few days before I even loaded it up. But once I had done I soon got into it and found it enjoyable, and of course done with the professionalism we've come to expect from Magnetic Scrolls. By keeping an eye on some of the characters, or by staying in the same location for a while and seeing what goes on, you can start to piece together bits of information. Not that you'll be pleased to hear all of it! The information from the letter that you find on the shredder will be confirmed for you if you have lunch with your wife, for example. And there are several different sticky ends in store too.

The FOLLOW command comes in useful, as you can tag along one step behind a particular character by continually pressing ENTER, and watch what they get up to, but you can interrupt this at any time by typing any other command. You can WAIT UNTIL a specified time to speed up the action in a particular place, and although you're told to use the AGAIN command to repeat your last input its much easier to press the EDIT key once as that also repeats the input. Just press ENTER instead of editing it, that's all. The 'B'side of the disk comes in handy for saved games, of which you'll need plenty, and a useful tip is not only to mark the place where you saved but the time of day, too.

The parsers a bit tedious in places. PUT BAG IN BRIEFCASE. "But the briefcase is closed," that kind of thing. And when you're carrying the right key to unlock a door, UNLOCK DOOR is greeted by "What with?" it also takes you ages to unlock the door of your own car, as you fiddle around getting the key out of your pocket, and of course once the door's unlocked it's still got to be opened, and then when you open it and type IN the parser tells you there's nothing here to go inside, and you have to type ENTER CAR. All this does rather slow down what's described as "a fast-paced thriller.!"

There's the typical Rainbird glossy packaging, with extra bits and pieces in the box, including some amusing inserts for your own personal organiser. All in all, I enjoyed Corruption far more than I thought I would... but not quite as much as the previous Magnetic Scrolls games. Maybe I'm just more of a wrinklie than a yuppie when it comes to adventure games.

Label: Rainbird
Author: Magnetic Scrolls
Price: £15.95
Memory: 128K (disc)
Joystick: None
Reviewer: Sandra Sharkey

Following hot on the heels of Jinxter comes Corruption, a very different sort of adventure to the normal offerings from Magnetic Scrolls.

The packaging, as we have come to expect from Rainbird, is excellent, consisting of a casino chip and a cassette containing dialogue and music which needs to be played at a certain stage of the game. You also get a diary/address book and a gameplay manual which contains the ultimate Gambler's Guide and Business Entertainment Guide, together with the usual Cypheric Help section.

Corruption features all the usual game commands with full sentences input and many abbreviations for the most commonly used words.

This adventure is set in the modern day world of high finance, your partner has framed you and you must prove your innocence.

So, how do you go about playing the game? You must 'interact' with all the characters that you meet during your exploration of the game world. Don't forget to listen to other people's conversations for example!

The game is played in real time and a quick glance in your diary at the beginning of the game will show you that you are meeting your wife for lunch so make sure you turn up on time. But you have plenty to do before then, and lots of questions to ask.

Your secretary is the most unobliging person you could ever hope to meet, and you begin to wonder if she is there to help or to hinder. Your partner, David, seems like a really nice guy, so why do The Serious Fraud Office want to interview him? And why does your wife send him perfumed letters which he gets his secretary to bung in the shredding machine? The only way to find out is to ask a lot of questions and go snooping.

The only thing that annoyed me in this game was the fact that other people would go to the toilet and presumably manage to perform their bodily functions before flushing, but I was not allowed to do so! Maybe I couldn't find the correct input, but there can't be that many alternatives to the words I know! Even after I ended up in the hospital, through my own carelessness whilst crossing the road, the nurse wouldn't oblige with a bed pan. (Are you sure this isn't just a personal problem? - GT).

Apart from that one little niggle though, this game is good. The text is well written, the characters are very realistic and the storyline is believable.

Corruption is different from normal adventures as it depends more on the gathering and correlating of information than puzzle solving. In time, though you'll be able to find out the answers to all the questions except one. Why can't I use the loo?

Atari ST, £24.95dk
Amiga, £24.95dk
IBM PC, £24.95dk
Spec, £15.95dk
Mac, £34.95dk
C64/128, £17.95dk
Ams 6128 only, £19.95dk

Receiving an impressive 920 rating in issue 11 of ACE, Corruption is the latest release from the software house that brought you Guild of Thieves and The Pawn.

As with Suspect, even people who don't normally go a bundle on adventures should get good value out of Corruption. The game makes you a partner in a London stockbrokers, but only hours after your promotion you find yourself arrested by the police.

Aided by excellent graphics and a powerful parser, you must travel about London and investigate your colleagues and their shady associates. Someone has put the finger on you, and you must either find the true villain or end up in jail. Even better, you must nail the person responsible and get your revenge.

Corruption is a tricky game and you'll have to use your head if you're to crack the case. Every move in real life uses up a minute of game-time, and you'll find your self hard pushed to solve the puzzle before the end of the day. Adventure fans will love it and those normally accustomed to arcade action could well find it a good introduction to text-based games.

RAINBIRD/MAGNETIC SCROLLS' inside deal.

After toying around with the obscure (The Pawn), the traditional (GuiJd of Thieves), and the whimsical (Jinxter) Magnetic Scrolls have finally managed to come out with a game that combines powerful programming, wry humour, and a compelling plot all at once. No doubt about it, Corruption is their best yet.

Some won't like it, however. This tale of insider dealing, infidelity and crooked business deals is unlikely to suit people who prefer to wander around picking up treasure. It does have other compensations, however...

First, you get a lot of bumph for your money, including a cassette tape that features prominently in the plot, a lot of documentation (including a personal organiser section that gives into on your movements), and some amusing guides to London eating emporiums, casino etiquette, and so on.

Second, the parser is powerful and flexible. It can understand possession, so will accept PUT THE CONTENTS OF THE ENVELOPE IN THE POCKET, or OPEN THE DESKS TOP DRAWER. Combine this with a comprehensive use of pronouns, abbreviations and flexible programming, and you have a parser that's both friendly and fast in operation.

Thirdly, you get the usual excellent graphics which, in this case, are certainly more atmospheric than before and every bit as technically accomplished. Much of the gameplay revolves around interaction with other people and it helps if you can see them!

Finally, of course, there's the plot. Recently made a partner in the stockbroking firm of Rogers & Rogers, you soon realise that all is not as it seems. If you don't, you'll find yourself arrested by midday and found guilty of insider dealing (i.e. buying shares in a company about whose financial performance you have privileged information).

The game starts at 9.00a.m. and the clock advances by 1 minute with every stab at the RETRN key, so you're well advised to make maximum use of multiple commands to save time. Gameplay consists of finding and examining objects together with locating other characters whom you can question using ASK person ABOUT subject or inform using TELL ABOUT... Your primary objective is to put yourself in the clear, your secondary object is to get your revenge.

Characters move about the map in certain predetermined ways, so time not only limits gameplay but also changes it. In a normal game you map space, in this game you map time as well, taking note of when certain people perform certain actions for future reference. In this manner the game is very like Infocom's Suspect - even down to the level of particular actions: in both games, there is someone who hides documents in a car in the garage.

Corruption is great fun, will take quite a while to solve, and should please everyone fed up with more traditional adventure subjects. Its only weakness is that the characters are all stereotypes, from the dumb blond to the macho businessman, and leave one wondering whether in eradicating whimsy from their games Magnetic Scrolls haven't gone a little too far in the opposite direction.

RELEASE BOX
Atari ST, £24.95dk, Out Now
Amiga, £24.95dk, Out Now
IBM PC, £24.95dk, Out Now
Spec, £15.95dk, Imminent
Mac, £34.95dk, Imminent
C64/128, £17.95dk, Imminent
Ams, £19.95dk (6128 only), Imminent