<!--
	Title: (PCG Reviews) Circuit's Edge
	Author: Jim Trunzo
	Source: PCGames, v3(3)
	Date: September 1990
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

Circuit's Edge is a gritty science-fiction mystery-adventure game based
on the books *When Gravity Fails* and *A Fire in the Sun*, by George Alec Effinger,
a Hugo and Nebula Prize winner. The game draws its setting and characters
from the novels, although the storyline is original.

Set in a futuristic slum called Budayeen, somewhere in the Middle East,
Circuit's Edge tosses you into the role of Effinger's main character, Marid
Audran. It's not a nice place to live — and you wouldn't want to visit,
either — but there's no around it. Another murder has occurred in this
93rd-century crime-ridden ghetto and you may be next on the list. It's going
to take all your street-hustling skills and the help of your friends — exotic
dancers, prostitutes, drug dealers, and the local godfather, Papa Friedlander
Bey — to get you out of this one.

It's a sordid side of life you'll see in Circuit's Edge, and it's both disgusting
and seductive at the same time. The game sucks you in like a whirlpool.
The setting is so sinister and the futuristic elements so strangely fascinating
that you'll want to rush through the streets of Budayeen to find out
what new and unexpected encounter awaits you.

With its intuitive system of pulldown menus and arrow keys, Circuit's
Edge lets you travel about the city, meet and talk with your associates,
fight and negotiate with your enemies, and engage in any number of pleasurable
and illicit activities without typing more than a few words at a time. That
means you can concentrate on the game itself and keep the pace moving
at breakneck speed.

During the course of the game, you'll interact with at least ten major
nonplaying characters and dozens of minor characters such as the local
shop owners, and travel to more than 60 locales. Nonplaying characters
here have well-developed personalities, all different and interesting in
themselves. Knowing the people you're dealing with — their virtues
(which are few) and their vices (which are many) — is essential to solving
the mystery.

Besides the lure of its decadent setting, the game's futuristic devices add
to the plot and to your enjoyment. Marid's brain has been altered to
accept both *moddies* (electronic modules that let him become someone
else, either real or fictional) and *daddies* (modules that give him temporary
knowledge of particular subjects). You might have to use a moddy
chip to change your personality as you infiltrate certain groups, for
instance, or a sensory-deprivation daddy to keep from feeling pain as
you're tortured. Your imaginative use of both types of chips will determine
the outcome of the game.

Budayeen is a dangerous place, especially at night. Money’s not easy
to come by, for one thing, and spending it foolishly — and usually illegally —
means coming up short when the time comes to purchase information
or a daddy module, for instance. You'll probably die — easily and
frequently. (Save your game often.)

Circuit’s Edge mixes equal parts murder mystery and science fiction to
produce an exquisite graphics adventure. From robotic hookers to cyberpunk
muggers, it'll test your deductive skills while titillating your interest in
the seamy side of life. Once you start playing, you'll keep going back to the
streets of Budayeen, where life is never boring and death is never far away.

*Infocom, distributed by Mediagenic, 3885 Bohannon Drive, Menlo Park,
CA 94025, (415) 329-0800; 512K IBM PC, Tandy, and compatibles;
CGA/EGA/16-color VGA/ Tandy; keyboard or mouse; AdLib and
Roland music boards; no copy protection; $49.95*
