On-Line are one of the few visionaries to realise that they can use the Amiga to develop real interactive movies. Sadly, they have come up with an interactive home video. The whole thing is shot as if it were a movie using still photographs which are then digitised.

A narrator unfolds the story as you navigate around the home Counties trying not to get killed. Generally it's simply a matter of clicking to go right or left, but occasionally you have to react quickly, moving the pointer and clicking to avoid certain death and a restart.

This sort of 'you die this time but you'll get it right next time' gameplay is poor. And who wants to play a spotty herbert from the suburbs of London who drives a Vauxhall Chevette anyway? Not me. (So what car is it you drive? - Prod Ed)

If CD had the potential to bring us interactive movies, then Psycho Killer would just about qualify as the interactive home video. Its graphics were shot on location in the London area and digitised, which has the unfortunate side effect of making it look like a movie in which Vauxhaull Chevettes and anoraks appear when there should be Ferraris and Armani suits.

The major let-down is the gameplay: you flick through screens where nothing happens, then come to one where you are expected to make an action by moving the pointer rapidly to a part of the screen and clicking a button. Fail and you're dead, which means having to sit through the dull intro sequence again before you can take your next go. It just isn't real gameplay.

Man merkt, daß dieses Grafik-(Action)-Adventure direkt für's CDTV produziert wurde - hier gibt's Animationen satt! Zwar handelt es sich dabei ausschließlich um gerade noch brauchbar digitalisierte Echtbilder, aber die Jagd auf den Killer gestaltet sich trotzdem recht unterhaltsam.

Während eine Stimme die Story zum besten gibt, leitet der Spieler diverse Aktionen ein, indem er Gegenstände auf dem Screen anklickt. Meist geschieht das unter Zeitdruck, z.B. läuft der Bösewicht auf einen zu, und man soll ihm rechtzeitig einen Tritt ins Gesicht verpassen. Mit etwas gutem Willen könnte man das Programm als interaktiven Film bezeichnen - mag die Langzeitmotivation auch zweifelhaft sein, Psycho Killer ist das bisher beste "reine" CD-Game.