Well. where to start. Blade Runner rates as one of my all time favourite movies. Setting aside all the pretensious waffle that has surrounded it over the years it is simply just a damn fine yarn. For those not familiar with Ridley Scott's flawed masterpiece - shame on you - you've lived long enough to learn how to read this review and you havent got around to seeing it??!!!? Anyone needing the plot from the original, I suggest that you rent or buy it now (Director's Cut recommended).

The game is based in the blade runner universe, that of a dark and grimy future Los Angeles (2019) where acid rain falls endlessly and the standard language is a mish-mash of gutter talk and mutated Japanese. You play Mcoy, a newbie Blade Runner on his first assignment. For those not in the know, a Blade Runner is the slang name for the officers of the Replicant Detect unit designed to wipe out rogue replicants. Replicants are biologically engineered humanoids who were designed to service humans in whatever role they were assigned (effectively slaves) commerce being the companies (The Infamous Tyrell Corperation) they were found to be emotionally unstable and so were designed with a limited life span. These Replicants being at least as intelligent as there designers started to dislike the exploitation that they were suffering and many rebelled, frequently causing havoc and in many cases death. Hence the Blade Runner unit being setup.

The game itself takes the form of a Point-and-Click adventure. However to pigeon hole it like that this category would be doing the game a gross injustice. Yes it has all the hallmarks of the basic Point and click, but the atmosphere created by the stunning cut-scenes, and the revolutionary graphics engine set it as far apart from the likes of Monkey Island (by Lucasarts) as is physically possible.

You have many tools at your disposal with which to make this detection simpler.

The KIA (Knowledge Intergration Assistant) - is your arm mounted computer database that allows you to store and sort clues and suspects, view relevant objects and so on. The KIA also gives you the ablity to listen to taped interviews and conversations given by witnesses and suspects. Basically the 21st century equivalent of a pocket notebook.

The Spinner - is your transport around the sprawling metropolis, it takes the form of a flying car (as seen in the films) which can be set down at all the important locations.

The Voigt-Kampf machine - As in the film you get the chance to psychologically interrogate possible 'Skin Jobs' it keeps track of the so called blush response, which Replicants exprerience in a different way to humans. Involuntary dilation of the iris is what your looking for whilst grilling the suspect with emotionally testing questions.

The ESPER machine - Also makes its transition from the film with fantastical attention to detail. When you come accross photographs or enhanceable images taken from crime scenes you can input them into the ESPER and rotate and enhance objects within that image then take hard copies where relevant. This is brilliantly realised and totally true to the film right down to the sounds that accompany it.

Using all this equipment is simple and is a tribute to the games designers in every respect.

Navigating the game world is your standard 'point to where you want to go' fare but there is an added aspect in the form of right clicking the mouse button to bring up the sights for your blaster. The cursor clicks blue to inform you that there is somewhere else to move to in the scene. It flashes green to inform you tha there is an object of interest and so on.

The Game engine uses an advanced form of real-time polygon rendering for the backgrounds combined with a voxel system for the characters. What this means is the scene can be zoomed and panned when needed and can be animated and lit in realtime with the environment affecting how the game chracters look visually. Fog streams from sewers , ceiling fans throw moody shadows onto the walls and is generally very impressive.

Adding to the already tense atmosphere are the cut-scenes which are stunning in their execution , using motion capture and voice synching to provide simply the best yet seen.

When you combine all these elements with a gripping storyline and a realtime gameworld (things can happen without you necessarily knowing about them) and your own pet dog, you have a product more than worthy of its two and a half year development time - Superb.

Reviewed by - Paul James