Producer: Virgin Games
Retail Price: £9.95 cassette, £14.95 disk
Author: Sentient Software, from a Milton Bradley board game

Scruples is the latest in a long line of board games to be translated to the Spectrum, and requires the players to answer awkward and often embarrassing questions.

The game is played by three to ten human or computer-controlled players, with each player having a different character make-up. Human players choose their own personalities, and if the computer plays, it decides for itself what son of a person it is. Each player chooses a face from the ten provided, which is displayed next to the board, and the action begins.

Each player has from three to five question cards, and answer cards with 'yes', 'no' and 'depends' on them. The bottom of the screen provides prompts for asking questions and challenging answers.

If a player thinks that another player's answer to a question is incorrect, he may challenge, and the other players vote on whether the challenge is to be accepted or not. The penalty for losing a challenge is an extra question card. Since the objective is to get rid of all the question cards, this isn't desirable - so be honest… even if you have to embarrass yourself!

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: plain, but effective
Sound: reasonable tunes and jingles are played throughout
Options: three to ten human or computer-controlled players

I haven't played the board game, but if it's anything like the computer game, it must be pretty good. The graphics are excellent with very neat playing cards and people with different expressions on their faces. There are cheerful jingles and tunes played throughout the game, adding that extra 'je ne sais quoi'. Answering the rather embarrassing questions is a lot of fun too - although I did find it a little dull when playing with computer opponents - they're just too inhuman! Scruples is an excellent conversion of the board game, which should definitely be played in a group!
NICK [73%]

Certainly a game to sit down to with a gang of friends for a long winter evening of self-generated entertainment. However, I much prefer the board game - it brings out the true character in people by the way they answer, as opposed to setting the characteristics with the computer. Lively debates don't occur between computer opponents - it's far more fun playing with a couple or group of humans. Try it for family playing.
BYM [75%]

Putting the electronic element into Scruples has really killed the board game. It's not as much fun knowing what the computer thinks, compared to seeing other people cringe at their own answers. The implementation is sound, but the game doesn't project itself enough for any 'real' fun. I doubt very much whether players of the Scruples board game will find much fun in the computer version - I know I didn't.
PAUL [65%]

Leisure Genius
£9.95
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

It's got to be the best board game of the past year or two (at least since Triv), but does Scruples cut it on the Speccy? And does it matter anyway?

I've spent many a happy evening arguing over Scruples with similarly loudmouthed and opinionated friends. It's really a great game for people who love the sound of their own voice, and who love whiling away an evening arguing fiercely with someone in the reasonably secure knowledge that no-one's going to stick a glass in their face at the end of it. It's based around a series of 'moral dilemmas', questions of choice which you try and answer as unpredictably as possible in order to spark off rows and win the game. For instance you could answer a quezzy like 'A good friend is "in love" and introduces you to his/her lover. You find there is a strong mutual attraction. Do you repress your feelings?' in various ways, from 'Good Lord I wouldn't dream of such a thing' to (in my case) 'WALLOP!' It's all part of the fun and violence in A Question Of Scruples.

This Speccy version has been programmed by Sentient Software and it's really a masterpiece of design. You can play with up to 10 'people', of whom any number can be run by the computer. You have 64 preset characters to choose from, or if you're playing yourself you can take one of the faces and define a character to go with it. As usual the idea is to see if people are lying when they give their answers, and all the original features of the game have been faithfully reproduced. If you want you can even have 10 computerised characters, and just watch them get on with it - although I found that as gripping as watching yogurt go off.

I'm not sure, though, that I really see the point of it all. Though clever and accurate it's still just a computerised version of a board game that doesn't really need computerising. I found it quite hard to remember the characters of the computer's characters I was playing with, so I guessed all the time, challenged endlessly and still won (it's called skill, I believe). Of course, this might just be the game that everybody's been waiting for. It's beautifully done, and reasonable fun in its own right. But for me, I'll stick to the original.

Label: Virgin
Author: Sentient
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Graham Taylor

Q: You are asked to review a computer game based on an astoundingly complicated board game. You barely understand the instructions. Do you bluff it out?

A: Yes, you're not allowed to write reviews that say "I'm sorry I don't understand this game.

Q: You are asked if you expected the computer version of Scruples to be any good. Do you tell the truth?

A: Yes, you state clearly and honestly that you thought Virgin Games had stuck itself with an absolute do-do conversion wise.

Q: You are wrong in every way. Will you admit it?

A: Yes. I was completely wrong, the simulation is astonishing.

Q: Someone demands that you describe the game Scruples to an unfamiliar audience in order to show why a computer version seemed unlikely. Can you do it?

A: Depends How's your gobbledegook? Try this: Each player has a number of Scruples cards which pose some moral dilemma like "you find a wallet containing £500 do you keep the money?" Alongside the Scruples card is an Answer card on which are written the words Yes, No or Depends. Each player tries to match a Scruples card with a player he/she thinks will give the answer on the Answer card if the given answer and the actual answer match, the player has won that round and can remove the Scruples card from his/her hand

Q: Can you explain what's supposed to be so complicated about that?

A: Yes. Can you imagine the horrendous complications and complexities that arise when you try to get someone to give you the answer you want, knowing that they know what answer you expect them to give, and knowing that they know that you know that they know what answer you expect them to give? If the player doesn't get an answer that matches with his card he gets an extra Scruples card to get rid of. If the Questioner wants to challenge the Answerer and declare that he/she is lying - then all the other players vote on whether they believe the Answerer is lying or not...

Q: Wouldn't you say that was enough explanation? How can all this possibly work on a computer game - surely it can't?

A: Yes it does. The programmers of Scruples the computer game have effectively created ten independent computer characters with sufficiently realistic personalities to make an incredibly social game like Scruple work on computer.

Q: But surely not only does the computer have to have personalities it also has to know your personality - so it can judge your likely response?

A: Yes. At the beginning of each game you teach it your personality - it works simply - you just move the bars in a 3D bar chart to levels which represent the amount you do or don't have some quality like "honesty"

Q: Honestly?

A: Yes absolutely. You can trust me. So it goes on for ten or so other categories. This becomes the 'blueprint' for the computer's reactions to you.

Q: What about the computer personalities, are they really convincing?

A: Yes, each character - as many as you choose to play against, up to ten - has his or her 'own' personality curve' which you are shown for a few moments - and which you must use when deciding who to ask what question

Q: I suppose the game looks like crud then with all this memory being taken up with ultra sophisticated artificial intelligence and those different questions to be stored?

A: No it looks pretty fab. Each character has a little animated face, you couldn't exactly call them digitised but they are really not too bad. All the menus and select option are tastefully done with the usual icon/joystick control type stuff. It's true however that the art of the game is all in the logic, though.

Q: I don't suppose you could provide a concrete analogy could you?

A: Yes. It's a bit like computer chess games How they look is ultimately far less important than how they think.

Q: You are asked to write a concluding paragraph, in which, like all review concluding paragraphs, you restate what has already been said, and provide a neat ending to the piece. Will you do it?

A: No (Oh alright, Scruples is a surprisingly clever conversion of a board that seems even more determinedly 'uncomputerisable' than Trivial Pursuit The programming is awesome and it looks pretty good too. I think the game is still more fun with at least one more human player - who's going to giggle about our ooer moral predicaments? - but this could well become a serious Christmas biggy).

Q: YOU find £20,000 has been sent to you by mistake from a greedy Swiss bank. You know the error will never be discovered. Will you keep the money?

A: Um... Oh cripes we've run out of space.

Discover your inner self with Virgin's help.

Moral dilemmas are things that most of us spend a great deal of time and effort trying to avoid. This computer version of the successful board game, however, throws moral dilemmas at you, and up to nine other players, constantly.

The computer version is a direct translation from the board game, with the rules and objectives remaining the same. The idea is to get rid of all your dilemma cards (3, 4 or 5 of them, depending on how many players there are) before your opponents. To begin with, each player receives his quota of dilemma cards and one answer card. The answer card simply has either "yes", "no" or "depends" printed on it, and you have to decide which player is likely to give the same answer to one of your dilemmas as is on this answer card. If the answers agree, you discard the dilemma card and receive a replacement answer card. If the answers are different, then you or any other player can challenge the answerer if you think their reply is out of character. Each player then votes for one player or the other and the winner hands a dilemma card from his pile to the loser.

If you've enjoyed the board game, or think you might enjoy it, then the computer version will not disappoint. There is enough variety between computer controlled players to make it interesting and there are enough dilemmas to keep even the most upstanding members of the community soulsearching for a long time. The best way to play the game, though, is with a group of friends and a couple of bottles of plonk. Then just sit back and let the computer handle the tedious parts of the game like shuffling and dealing.

Reviewer: Andy Smith

RELEASE BOX
Spec 128, £9.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now
Spec 48, £9.95cs, Out Now
C64/128, £12.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now
Amstrad, £9.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now
Atari ST, £19.95dk, Out Now

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 60/100
1 hour: 80/100
1 day: 80/100
1 week: 70/100
1 month: 50/100
1 year: 30/100

MACHINES: Atari ST, Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC Range
SUPPLIER: Leisure Genius/Virgin Games
PRICE: ST (£19.95)/Spectrum/Amstrad (£9.95/£14.95)/CBM 64 (£12.95/£14.95)
VERSION TESTED: Atari ST, Spectrum 128K (Plus 2 and 3), Amstrad CPC

"Would you shoot your granny for a thousand pounds? "Would you eat dog food for a month to win a slap up meat for you and Samantha Fox at Stringfellows?"

You've all seen them on the box. Those absurd questions that get sprung on passers by in the street in the Scruples board game TV advertisements.

In the computer version each player is dealt a number of 'Dilemma Cards', each of which contains a set of circumstances and a related question. To give you a flavour of the game, and a better understanding of the dilemmas it can cause (arguments while playing Scruples have been sighted in a number of divorce cases in the States!), here's what's written on just three dilemma cards:

"In the supermarket, you send a dozen packages tumbling into the aisle. No one sees you. Do you walk away?"

"You hear the conversation of two strangers when you pick up the phone. Do you listen to it?"

"Your neighbour in an adjacent block of flats insists on doing yoga nude, in full view. Do you complain to the landlord?"

With the dilemma cards, you are also given one 'Answer card', on which is written either Yes, No, or Depends. When it is your turn, you must select a dilemma card and read it to one of your opponents. Your choice of card and opponent is governed by what is contained on your Answer card, because the idea is to illicit, from your opponent, the same answer as is on your own card.

Thus, if you knew Don to be a particularly honest person, and you were holding a 'No' answer card, you might ask him the first Dilemma question (about the supermarket packages), expecting him to say "No, I wouldn't just walk away". The thing is that Don knows full well you would be expecting him to say No and so might answer 'Yes' instead. But, then again, you may be trying the double-bluff, and be holding a 'Yes' card after all; this is what makes Scruples such fun to play.

If Don doesn't give the answer you were hoping for, you throw away the dilemma and answer cards, just used, and pick one more of each. Don's response matches your answer card, you pick a new answer card, but do not have to pick another dilemma card.

If you think he is lying, you can challenge Don to justify his answer after which it is put to the vote. If you wish, you can give Don one of your remaining dilemma cards, if not, he gives you one of his. The first player to be left with no Dilemma cards is the winner.

The computer version sticks very much to the rules of the original, but has a few added features such as four reasons associated with each answer that may be given to every dilemma question. These answers are used when a player must justify his position prior to a vote, and also serve to show why a player makes the decisions he does.

The program also elegantly side-steps the problem of the computer players knowing nothing of their human (or computer) opponents. At the start of the game, each human player must enter their personality so that the others can try and predict how they might react to various dilemmas.

A player's personality profile is built up from the following variables, each given a rating between +8 and -8 by the player him or herself. You will be required to assess your own character in terms of principles, personal integrity, professional integrity, trust, family relationships, partner relations, friendships, busy-body factor, humanity, greed, shyness, and honesty.

Although the computer uses a player's profile to predict how he might react to certain dilemmas, if a player's answers are 'out of character', the computer will automatically amend that player's personality to fit the way he is reacting.

Scruples is a game for three to ten players. In the computer version there can be any mix of human and computer player, meaning that you can use the program simply as a dealer and electronic board, or as a source of opponents; you can even sit back and watch a batch of Computer players slog it out on their Own.

There are 64 different computer players to choose from, on all the reviewed systems, drawn from all walks of life. You can play against anyone from a punk to a vicar, from a model to a businessman. Each character has his or her own face and their personality profile is randomly constructed every time the game is loaded, so you may never play with the same character twice.

The screen layout is well conceived, and the program is simplicity itself to use, with prompts at all the right places.

Each version of the game is designed to get the most from the various computers, especially the Speccy version. We shall have to wait and see what restrictions will be placed on the 48K version.

If you fancy a laugh during the Christmas holidays, or enjoy playing Scruples but have difficulty finding opponents, then this could be right up your Street. Also recommended for older children up to the age of about 70!