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This is a very competent translation of Parker Brothers' popular board game
to the computer screen. If you've ever played Clue for any length of time, you'll be
amazed at how good this translation to the PC really is. In fact, this is probably
more fun than playing the board game. If you've never played Clue at all, the basic
setup goes like this: Six characters are at the mansion of Mr. Boddy, and through
some underhanded means, one of the characters has murdered him. Playing one of the
six characters, you move from room to room making suggestions about who killed him
with which weapon. The suggested location of the murder is always the room in which
you're making the suggestion. Once the suggestion is made, the other characters must
show clues to disprove the suggestion if they have any. Through a system of cards,
the actual murderer's name, choice of weapon, and location of the crime are chosen
from a deck containing all the character names, weapons, and locations. The rest of
the cards are handed out randomly to all the characters. When you make a suggestion,
anyone disproving it shows you one of his cards that fills in one of the missing pieces
of the mystery. By analyzing who's making what suggestions and knowing which cards
you and others have, you try to accuse someone of the murder. A bunch of great
shortcut scenes were added that accompany the suggestions about the murder. You'll
be amazed the first time you see Ms. Scarlet whacking someone with a lead pipe the
size of Pittsburgh and hear the thud as the metal makes contact with the victim.
Playing this game at work is one thing, but you really have to sit at home in a dark
room with a couple of friends to get the true feel of murder solving. The cutscenes
are different for each character and weapon, so don't think that they're just
repeated animations. Clue offers full animations of the characters walking from room
to room. While this is interesting for a while, you'll probably want to play with the
standard overhead view of the board. Along with the animations is a really good
soundtrack that includes sounds of the storm outside the mansion and a forbidding
butler who calls out each suggestion as it is played. There's really just one problem
with the game. The suggestions of the computer players go by so fast, that it's often
difficult to follow what's happening. The "autonotes" feature that takes notes as to
what cards you've seen doesn't record what suggestions have already been made, so
making educated guesses as to which cards people don't have by their suggestions
becomes a pen and paper experience. This modern version of the game sports classy
graphics, three ranges of computer opponents (which can be VERY good), network gaming,
Butler voice-overs and 3D animated character cut-scenes for suggestions. Some years
later, the game was given out free with boxes of cereal. |