Reviews

1986 Imagine Software (UK)
by Dusko Dimitrijevic, Dragoljub Andjelkovic, F.D. Thorpe (loading screen)

Just like 'Contact Sam Cruise' released that same year, you play the role of a private eye, who's goal is to recover an incriminating audio tape from the Mafia. To do so you must first contact a girl who has the right information of the whereabouts of the Mafia's base. And so the plot unfolds...

Movie was one of those games that grabbed my attention right from the start, the cool presentation, the atmosphere of the game, the beautiful graphics, all kept me going and exploring, even if I had no idea of what to do.
The nice details such as the TV set turned on (with white noise as the one only show), or the well decorated rooms, all add to go and explore the next room.

Excellent!

by Dusko Dimitrijevic, Dragoljub Andjelkovic, F. David Thorpe

In Imagine's Movie you control a Philip Marlowesque detective through a series of classic split screens, using not only directional controls but also a series of icons, and with the possibility of talking through comic strip balloons, trying to interact with other talking characters - featuring twin blondes with opposite intentions, which you'll have to tell to solve your case. In truth, the game being nonetheless fascinating and absorbing, the talking feature is very limited, being useful only in three or four occasions - but it was pretty fun pretending, or trying to, to talk with other sprites. Other actions you can perform are punching, shooting, once found revolver and bullets, and flinging objects across the room, mostly useful to throw bombs against gangsters. The game becomes surreal with sitting dogs jumping around, lethal balls rolling through the locations and moving armours.

4,75/5

An isometric game at the level of the greatest: Knight Lore, Alien 8, Batman, Head Over Heels,... but this is not 'another isometric adventure'. It's an original ganster thriller by Imagine that uses an icon system that lets you shoot, punch, drop/pick up, walk, ... even speak to other characters with a cool 'speech bubble'.

It's New York in the 30s. Private Detective Jack Marlow faces the hardest mission he's ever got: infiltrate the headquarters of ganster Bugs Malloy to locate a tape recording and return to his office to play a hidden message.

You can interact with other characters to get useful information and use different objects in your mission. Tanya is a key character that will help you reach your objective. But beware of her evil twin sister Vanya.

The only problem is the icon system that hinders you in a fast reaction if you want to repel a punch or need to shoot quickly, for example.

Anyway, a Spectrum classic with plenty of detailed rooms in a very long map. Excellent loading screen by F. David Thorpe and unforgettable artwork by Bob Wakelin.