The Big Sleaze

The Big Sleaze is a humorous text adventure which parodies the detective genre. It is set in the late 1930s and the player controls Sam Spillade, a stereotypical and not too bright private detective. The adventure begins when he gets a new assignment: finding the missing father of his pretty, female client.

The situations Spillade has to solve shift between standard problems, e.g. getting money, and absurd situations like an auto bomb placed by the neighbour's children. And why did a dog bring a check and a photograph into his office? Commands have to be typed in with the keyboard, but the parser only understand simple verb + noun combinations. In compensation, Spillard can make conversation to other people.

The game consists of three independent programmes which have to solved in linear order - the save game of the previous part has to be imported into the next. Also included is the satirical electronic magazine Sceptical 3.

Added February 12, 2021
Published By Piranha
Developed By Delta 4 Software
Front Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Media (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Spine/Sides (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Extras (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
IGDB Cover from igdb.com
Sceptical 3's loading page (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Sceptical 3's main index (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
The Big Sleaze title screen (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
The Big Sleaze starting location (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
This is the page you get if you want to load parts 2 or 3. (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Title screen (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
The game starts. (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
A first hint of the game's satirical nature can be read when the usual female client comes into play. (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
The satirical electronic magazine Sceptical 3 is provided as bonus feature. (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Zenobi Software release: Title screen (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Zenobi Software release: Credits screen (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Zenobi Software release: The first screen (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Zenobi Software release: The second game screen and the end of the backstory (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com

Year of Release:
1987

Genre(s):
Interactive Fiction Traditional

Graphic Style:
2D

Camera View:
First-Person

Control Type:
Text Parser

Setting/Theme:
Comedy Interwar Mystery

Other Tags:
Detective Parody

Available From: