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IT'S 1996 in downtown New York which could be anywhere since the World Government renamed every city New York. They've also banned spirits. All the cops have become ghostbusters and your job is to rub out the spooks that flitter and lurk about the streets.


That's the Spirit calls itself a graphics adventure without the text. Aside from the cursor keys there are over 20 keypress instructions which let you control objects. The status screen below the action displays items you have collected and when you want to use them you position a frame and key in the required action.

Other indicators show your strength and sanity. Any prolonged contact with a ghost will drive you totally bananas and end the game.

You will find a lot of things strewn around the city. The subway seems a fairly safe place to store them and you can transport yourself to other parts of the city from there. Some items have obvious uses, like the bone to dispose of the phantom dog, but there are lots of odd mechanical bits which you must try to connect up. If you link them in the correct way you may be able to make some decent ghostbusting equipment.

You will certainly need it as the ghosts are persistent and troublesome, constantly blocking your way.

Ghostbusting is no doddle - despite having about 15 items stashed away I wasn't able to connect anything up and you will have to experiment long and hard to make link-ups.

That mental worritting raises That's The Spirit above a straight arcade adventure but is still not quite the same as the broader requirements of text adventure.


Publisher The Edge Price £7.95
Memory 48K Joystick Kempston
****

Richard Price

THAT'S THE SPIRIT
The Edge / £7.95

Ross: If you see yourself as something of an urban child, then you'll be intrigued to find yourself in this game caught up in the whirl of life in downtown New York. This is a complex text adventure, without the text, a city romp à la Ghostbusters.
Just as you'd expect in the Big Apple the results of your actions vary according to your location. For example, if your man's background is buildings and distant skyscrapers, you can move him left or right and get him to pick up objects.
So where do the spirit's come in to all this? All over the place. You'll be zapping them with your ghetto-blaster ... er I mean ghost-blaster, and watch out for those invisible ghosts too ...
You'll be kept in the picture about which objects you have by a small area at the bottom left of the screen. Life in the big city won't get dull with objects such as a lazer-gun, a bone, a computer and a mouse to keep you going! Gauges will keep a check on your fatigue and sanity levels (Where's my analyst? Ed.) so that you can get nearer your object. And what's that? To reach Liberty island it seems. Something of an all American dream methinks ... 6/10
Rick: Hampstead in piccies for the streetwise kids, and most of the jokes are stale. 5/10
Dougie: OK ..you dirty rat.. don't mess with the big boys or we'll send the mafioso spirits round to haunt you ... James Cagney would've loved to mess around in this game. 6/10