Any dyed-in-the-wool mystery addict would welcome an opportunity to tackle clues and suspects firsthand and Infocom's The Witness certainly gives you that chance. This game is neither as complex nor as littered with red herrings as Infocom's Deadline. But while I don't know anyone who's actually solved Deadline (yet), a few friends and I cracked this case within a week or so. This is probably much too simple for a hardcore text-adventurer-and it certainly doesn't overtax your capacity for inventive solutions.


The cast is small, which is not to say limited. You are a police detective called in by Mr. Linder to investigate threats to his life by Ralph Stiles, his wife's lover. Or former lover-Mrs. Linder ("Virginia" to Ralph) has recently committed suicide. There's also Phong, the Oriental butler, and the daughter of the house, Monica of the lamentable vocabulary. She's read too many third-rate imitations of Dashiell Hammett, and is given to calling you "shamus."


As usual, Infocom's support material is imaginative, witty and clever. Your file includes a telegram from Mr. Linder, a copy of Mrs. Linder's suicide note, a local newspaper and a pack of matches with a mysterious number scrawled inside the cover. You also carry a snub-nosed .45 ("gat" or "heat" to Monica) and a pair of handcuffs.


The first thing you have to detect is why you've been called-and getting an answer to this is more timeconsuming than such a simple question would seem to warrant. Mr. Linder is evasive, Phong is inscrutable, Monica is largely unintelligible and who knows where Ralph is.


There is what amounts to a mandatory time lapse at the beginning during which you're stuck in one room of the house. Witness is flawed, but it's not a bad warmup to Deadline.


Have a drink and look under everything. Don't forget the handcuffs.