Producer: Infogrames
Retail Price: £8.95
Author: Gilles Blancon

If you suspect this game is a Vera Cruz clone then you're quite right, for in just about every way The Sidney Affair runs in exact parallel to its distinguished predecessor.

As Detective Sergeant in the Crime Squad in St Etienne, you've already shown your ability in the Vera Cruz case. Your superiors were most impressed by your analytical approach and have put you at the head of the Sidney Investigation. The game begins with a chap's head lined up and centred in the sites of a rifle eyepiece, pointed by an assassin from the window of an apartment across the street. These two locations (St Gueran Street and the flat opposite) form the frames through which a magnifying glass is positioned to find clues and, much in the same way as Vera Cruz, photographs and notes entered in a note book provide the starting points from which the investigation radiates.

The Spectrum cursor keys glide the magnifying glass around the screen, and it won't take long to realise that systematically running the glass up and down assures no vital evidence is overlooked. Starting in the street, the man (who you see being killed in the first frame of the game) fell with his back to the pavement, with his briefcase lying unopened two or three feet away. Examining his left-inside pocket you discover a wallet with a driving licence, credit cards and an ID; this last, apparently, must be carried by everyone in France to prove they aren't an alien absconding from Mars.

The victim was a lames Sidney, which accounts for the title and rules out any antipodean connotations, who was married with two children at 5 St lames Square, Clermont. In the apartment across the way you find, guess what, a Camel cigarette like in Vera Cruz, a spent cartridge still reeking of cordite, and an invaluable fingerprint.

As far as I could tell Part Two is the very same Diamond Computer System found in Vera Cruz. It's here that I get the same negative feelings I had with that earlier game; I just don't think the instructions are explicit enough and I wonder how many people beyond the superhero sort get anywhere with these games. The blinding while background of Vera has been retained, much to my chagrin, and the input routine can be a touch sensitive. Assuming the instructions I received are the same as those that come with the game, I couldn't really go overboard about Sidney Affair thinking that many people who buy it wouldn't get much beyond Part One.

The Sidney Affair is a superb idea but I'm not totally convinced it has been presented that well on the Spectrum. Given the originality of these Gilles Blancon games, and the popular appeal of Who Dunnit yarns, I can't see many Vera Cruz fans resisting this one.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: Part Two is a stone wall that may leave many non-plussed
Graphics: excellent scenes of the crime and mug shots
Presentation: good
Input facility: roving icon, structured sentences
Response: fast

FAX BOX
Game: The Sidney Affair
Publisher: Infogrames
Price: £8.95

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, 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?

Label: Infogrames
Author: Giles Blancon
Price: £8.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Graham Taylor

Vera Cruz part II, Sidney Affair is more of the same. Obviously Sidney Affair inevitably lacks one feature that got Vera Cruz a Classic - it was genuinely original.

This one simply gives you two scenes for the murder setting and, obviously a different plot.

Having said that it really is a lot of fun to play, and in the pure pleasure of puzzle solving it outrates most conventional adventures.

Like Vera Cruz there are two sections to the game, loaded separately in the first you must 'scan' the scene of the crime for clues.

Scene one is a street scene - someone has been murdered and is lying sprawled on the pavement. You move a magnifying glass-shaped icon around the screen - press the space bar to get a 'snapshot' of anything interesting if there is anything interesting it gets highlighted in a window at the bottom of the screen and basic details appear - write them down or print them out. they are the beginning of your investigations.

From the first screen you can discover, among other things, the name of the murdered person, where he lived and the names and addresses of some of the people they knew.

Want a clue? There is someone called Sidney in the game...

The second picture shows the setting from which the shot was fired - more clues here. Both pictures are well done, with a good deal of detail. It has to be said, however, that on our grotty television seeking out likely looking objects was as much a matter of luck as judgement. I came away with a telephone number and around three names. I discovered the type of cartridge used, and a cigarette presumably smoked by the killer...

In Part Two of the game you consult the French police computers and get into contact with a variety of sources in an effort to build up information from your initial discoveries. There are various ways you can use the computer system. In each you need to specify where the information is to be found, who should be contacted, and the question you need answered. It's nicely presented, like Vera Cruz, with a simulation of a computer terminal which prints up a picture of witnesses as you speak to them - it's very well done. (But not as well as the mysterious photo of the kiss in Part One...)

I managed to find a lawyer who had been involved in some very relevant divorce proceedings and learnt some boring facts about the bullets. The way information must be 'assembled' and the way one path of investigation suddenly throws unexpected light on another set of facts is, I would imagine, a lot like real police investigative work. Certainly it is considerably more exciting and addictive than 90% of adventures.

There is one obvious problem with this program, though, fundamentally inherent in the idea - you can only solve it once. This was true of Vera Cruz and is essentially true of most conventional adventures - even those that pretend there is additional fun to be gained from wandering around aimlessly after you've scored 100%.

If you liked Vera Cruz then the message is simple, buy this one.

It has all the same ingredients with a few extras if you like solving adventure puzzles you could well find this an interestingly different challenge.

MACHINES: Spectrum/MSX1/MSX2/Amstrad
SUPPLIER: Infogrames
PRICE: £9.95
VERSION TESTED: Spectrum

A man's head appears in the sights of a gun. A shot is fired. A crimson bullethole appears in his forehead and he slumps to the floor. Sirens begin to wail.

The scene switches. The man lies dead on the pavement, his briefcase by his side.

As a Detective Sergeant in the Crime Squad in the St Etienne (Loire) police you must track down the killer. Yes, this is another murder hunt from the mind of former French policeman Gilles Blancon. It's similar to his previous game, Vera Cruz, but this is a touch more sophisticated.

There are two scenes of crime to investigate - the scene around the body of the victim, Mr Sidney, and the room where the shot was fired.

You control a magnifying glass to zoom in on the clues. In the man's wallet you'll find what can best be described as a compromising photograph. Could this be a reason for the killing?

In the room there are more clues to be had - a fingerprint and bullet cartridge, for instance.

Once you have discovered all of the clues you move on to the second part of the game where you can interview witnesses and suspects and use the police Diamond Network Computer.

This enables you to communicate with other police services, justice departments, prison administrations and the National Police.

Unlike Vera Cruz, in the Sidney Affair you can interview people, providing you can find them, more than once. For instance, Witness A will tell you something. But it is only when Witness B provides you with information that you can use this to get more out of Witness A.

You can compare an alibi or other evidence of one person with certain facts collected during the investigation. But this comparison can only be carried out on the basis of a statement. You can also carry out different examinations for example a ballistic or autopsy.

Once you are certain of someone's guilt, it only remains for you to make an arrest.

The only thing I don't like about The Sidney Affair is the title, it sounds like an Australian love-match. Apart from that, it's a highly entertaining game.

Right, in the grand tradition of the whodunit I will reveal the murderer right at the end of this review. Oh no! Don't say I'm going to run out of space! The murderer was...

Infogrames
£8.95

The Sidney Affair, sequel to The Vera Cruz Affair, is in a very similar style, and has an unimaginatively similar title. Again you are a French police chief, again there is a grisly murder to be solved, and again you face the even harder task of using the 'Diamond' network, France's police computer system.

As before, the game has two sections, in the first, the scenes of the crime (two of them) are portrayed, with rather neat graphics, and by moving a magnifying glass over them you attempt to zoom in on clues. Here you can find the victim's identity and some other details (check out the briefcase). Part two allows you to take statements, perform an autopsy and ballistic examinations, and (try to) use the infernal computer to gain information on police records and other forces related investigations. Then correlate the evidence and make the arrest. Simple ...

My thoughts are as for Vera Cruz: really only the case details have changed. The same sense of genuine investigation exists; the joy of detecting leads hidden within statements is worth experiencing. However, when stuck, I'm still uncertain as to whether I'm on the right track but entering the wrong computer commands, or whether what I'm trying to do is irrelevant. I still feel more friendliness is needed, especially as few of us Brits understand the French system of departments and regions, or their formats for things like telephone numbers.

If you like Cruz, you'll like this. More of the same - slick, unusual and a good puzzler.