Witness (The)

You've been summoned to the posh home of the Linder family to investigate a death threat against its wealthy patriarch, a shrewd businessman whose keen mind helped amass a small fortune. Yet all the money and influence in the world couldn't help him avert his wife's suicide, a tragedy still profoundly affecting both Linder and his daughter Monica.

So begins Witness, the second text adventure murder mystery from Infocom. Like its predecessor Deadline, the game comes packaged in a realistic detective's dossier crammed with vital physical evidence. Among the clues: the telegram received from Mr. Linder; an actual newspaper page from the era, redone slightly to include pertinent information among the real news stories; Mrs. Linder's suicide note; and a matchbook. (Smokers are warned to keep the latter safely tucked into the dossier while not actually playing. This reviewer accidentally used up the matches, then threw away the matchbook - along with a few important clues!)

If there's ever an award given for best computer game documentation, Witness' rulebook would definitely take the prize. Instead of the usual typewritten sheet, the instructions are contained in the pages of an oldfashioned detective magazine, complete with splashy front cover and back-page ads for cheap detective kits. Besides a well-written, easy to understand rulebook, players will find a helpful extra in the page listing the entire summary of possible commands.

As with all of Infocom's adventures, Witness, has a wider and more complex vocabulary than is usually found in this genre. Instead of typing in an adventure jargon command like "Look book", garners might want to try "Look at the book, then sit in the green chair."

As in Deadline, there are no graphics displays or sound effects in the game. Witness doesn't need them. Its descriptive prose is as vivid as a novel's, painting verbal pictures of the suspects (and victim) more strikingly than any mere picture could.

Armchair detectives will meet Linder himself - as much a failure as a husband and father as he is a success at business; his daughter Monica, who can neither forget nor forgive her mother's fate; the late Mrs. Linder's grieving lover, driven half-mad with the death of his mistress; and a cool, mysterious butler named Phong. Another character, Sergeant Duffy, acts as the player's right-hand man, appearing from out of nowhere to run clues and fingerprints down to the station for analysis.

Before the night is out, a murder will be committed. The killer will go free, unless the evidence is gathered, motives are found, and the guilty party apprehended - all within the space of a 12-hour time limit. (There is no "real time" limit in this game; each time the player makes a move by typing in a command, several minutes pass.)

Ace detectives, super-sleuths, and even amateur gumshoes will delight in this multi-faceted, involving game. If you like mysteries, you'll love Witness. Case closed.

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.