You Again?

Pick up Deja Vu II and you'll find yourself lost in Las Vegas.

Not only are you lost again, but you're also in trouble again. Now do you see why they call it Deja Vu?

Another recurring theme in this sequel to Deja Vu A Nightmare Comes True is a quality plot and a clever interface. If you're a fan of interactive fiction, you'll enjoy this game—it's full of wrong turns and secret meanings. But if you're new to the genre, the new Deja Vu is a good place to start.

To start with, you wake up hung over and miserable on the bathroom floor of a cheap hotel. You drag yourself to the bedroom and find a thug waiting to pass on some kind advice: If you don't pay Tony Malone the $100,000 that you owe him, you won't live long enough to get your lattered trench coat dry cleaned. You've got 24 hours to pull together the cash. That's life in the 1930s.

Why you owe Malone and how (or whether) you pay him off is part of the puzzle.

There's a gambling casino in your hotel where you'll find blackjack tables with barking dealers. But you have only $12 in your pocket, not including your lucky quarter. And there's a train out of town: maybe you need to head out of Las Vegas to solve your problems, Maybe not.

The rest of the story is yours to discover.

Find your way around the game by clicking on commands and clicking on objects. Drag items to your inventory, and open objects by double clicking. The interface is truly intuitive, leaving all the serious thinking for figuring out the solution to the mystery.

Deja Vu II retails for $49.95. If you'd like more information, call ICOM Simulations, 648 South Wheeling Road, Wheeling, Illinois 60090; (312) 520-4440.