<!--
	Title: (REVIEWS) Deadline
	Author: Eric Grevstad
	Source: 80 Micro, v4(6)
	Date: June 1983
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-right-half" src="/public/img/articles/80micro-deadline-review/deadline-sketch.jpg" alt="A sketch of some evidence from Deadline">

<p style="font-size: 2em; margin-top: 0;">★★★★½</p>

<p style="font-weight: bold;">Deadline<br>
Infocom, Inc.<br>
55 Wheeler St.<br>
Combridge, MA 02138<br>
Model III, 32K, one disk<br>
$49.95
</p>

<p class="article-dropcap">Poor Marshall Robner. His wife is cheating on him with a ski instructor.
His son George is an irresponsible wastrel, running up huge gambling
debts when he's not lying around listening to records; in fact, Robner was planning
to write George out of his will. His business partner, Baxter, is selling the
company to a greedy conglomerate, over Robner's dead body.</p>

Literally. One or more of the above suspects, or perhaps Robner's secretary
or gardener or housekeeper, murdered him, cleverly leaving his body in a
locked room with a fatal overdose of antidepressant pills, prescribed after
he'd threatened suicide, in his stomach. Marshall Robner's troubles may be
over, but yours are just beginning.

This is the premise of Deadline, the wittiest, most thoughtful, and most
rewarding adventure yet. Apple and IBM magazines and journals like *The
New York Times* have raved about the game since its debut last fall; the
TRS-80 version, finally in distribution, is worth the wait.

Deadline's documentation alone is more fun than many adventures. Besides
meeting your own character (a master detective, summoned by the
family lawyer), you're given a full dossier on the case: coroner's and lab
reports, photo of the library with overturned chair and chalk outline of
Robner's body, plastic packet of pills found at the scene, and transcripts of
interviews with suspects. Your predecessors, intimidated by all that pesky
locked door, are ready to call it suicide and close the file.

You have 12 hours – 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. – to roam the Robner mansion
and crack the case. Arrest someone and a letter from headquarters purveys
the result. In my attempts so far, the D.A. has refused to indict due to lack of
evidence; better sleuths will obtain a trial and conviction. Move too slowly
and the Chief Inspector escorts you to the door.

Deadline comes on a TRSDOS disk and lets you save games in progress on
another disk. You can also make a transcript of your investigation if a printer's
on line, an excellent feature. The top line of the display shows your current
location and the time, which ticks away at about one minute per move. You
can't examine a room and be done with it, either; the foyer that's empty at 8:30
will not be vacant at 10:52.

You're free to wander the house and grounds to search for evidence; you're
aided by the indispensable Sergeant Duffy, who materializes from nowhere
and whisks off to the lab when you want to analyze something ("His efficiency
and quiet dedication impress you quite a bit"). Most of all, you're obliged
to talk with the suspects. They range from charming to surly, and you'll find
they lie through their teeth.

This interaction is carried out in the most natural, challenging prose in the
adventure genre. Deadline uses complete sentences, as does the celebrated
Zork series. In handling objects, "Examine the red herrings carefully" and
"Put the pencil, the teacup, and the sugar bowl on the desk" are allowed. In
quizzing suspects, "Mr. Baxter, tell me about the merger" and "Mrs. Robner,
where is the new will?" are standard practice.

My one complaint about Deadline's vocabulary is, I suppose, that it isn't infinite.
When I try something other than "Tell me about" or "Where is," the
program interrupts with "Detectives are expected to know how to conduct a
proper interrogation." No one will tell me whether Robner was right-handed,
and I haven't been able to prompt suspects who exclaim "Murder? But
how do you know it was murder? I'm sure—" and then break off.

Even if your sentences are accepted, you'll soon be gnashing your teeth in
gleeful frustration. The suspects are as cool a bunch as ever stonewalled Sherlock.
They walked past me, brushed their hair, or lay down while I stood, ignored,
in the bathroom or bedroom. They were never shocked into confession
when I showed them bits of evidence ("Have you nothing better to do
than pick up every object in the house and show it to me?").

The game taunts you as Jack the Ripper did Scotland Yard. One window,
you're told, is too dirty to see through; when you retort "Wipe window,"
Deadline comments "Think you're clever, don't you?" and says it can't be
cleaned that easily. Try something impossible ("Take bed" or "Get Mr. Baxter")
and other adventures say "You can't do that." Deadline replies "Surely
you jest."

In fact, part of the fun of Deadline is trying stupid moves for the sake of seeing
the answers. Look under a bed, examine a toilet, try to kiss or molest a
suspect or steal the silverware, or climb onto a dresser and jump off
("Wheeee!"), and you'll find Interlogic's Marc Blank ("Principal Architect,"
if you read the house's cornerstone) has anticipated you.

All adventures are to some extent interactive, letting you do certain things
depending on whether you have certain objects. Deadline tops them all. Not only
does the game know what you're toting, even if you forget ("You must be
crazy, carrying that ladder inside the house!"), but the same suspect will
answer the same question differently, depending on what you've discovered
before asking.

In addition to different endings (carrying the Inspector Clouseau persona to
the limit, I accidentally killed myself several times), the documentation hints
that Deadline supports different solutions — if you find the right evidence,
you can make a case against and convict several people. This should keep even
competent detectives busy until summer; Witness, Infocom's second mystery,
is due then.

In the meantime, I'd be happy to convict anybody, or even to get on the
murderer's nerves and be killed. That would mean I'm getting warm.
