When the game starts, the player will see the opening menu.
Here the player can watch the intro, start a new game, restore an existing game or exit the game. If the player select "play game", then the intro is skipped and Act I begins, so if you play the first time, it is highly recommended to watch the intro for valuable information on the plot.
The menu bar
When you move the mouse to the top of the game screen, the menu bar will appear.
Walk/exit icon: Click on the first icon or right-click the mouse for the mouse pointer to change into a walk icon. Then click on a location on the screen to walk there. In close-up screens, such as murder scenes, the walk icon changes to an exit icon in order to return to the normal game screen view.
Eye icon: Click on the second icon or right-click the mouse for the mouse pointer to change into an eye icon. Then click on a location on the screen to observe objects, people and so on. The narrator will explain what Laura sees or thinks. Be careful, when Laura uses her magnifying glass, she may see things which are not visible for the naked eye, so use this tem often, especially on murder scenes.
Hand icon: Click on the third icon or right-click the mouse for the mouse pointer to change into a hand icon. Then click on any object or person on the screen to touch, activate or pick up items. Items which are picked up are placed in the inventory.
Talk icon: Click on the fourth icon or right-click the mouse for the mouse pointer to change into a talk icon. Then click on a person on the screen to talk to him or her and get a response. Notice there is a difference between talking to someone and questioning someone.
Question icon: Click on the fifth icon or right-click the mouse for the mouse pointer to change into a question icon. Then click on a person on the screen to question him or her. Laura's notebook will appear. Click on the people, places, things or misc. tab, then left-click on a key word or name and exit the notebook screen to ask the person that question. As Laura proceeds in the game, more words will be written down in her notebook, so you can always return to a person and ask him or her new questions... as long as they live of course...
Current item icon: in the small window, right to the question icon, is the inventory item which is currently selected. click it or right-click the mouse for the cursor to change into the inventory item and click it anywhere on the screen to use it on a person or item. When no inventory item is selected, this window will be blanked out.
Inventory icon: click on the inventory icon to open the inventory screen.
In this window, you can look at, activate or select inventory items. You can also combine inventory items, for example by using the magnifying glass on another inventory item. To select an inventory item, click the select icon (the arrow icon), then click on the desired inventory item and then click "OK" to return to the game screen. The selected inventory item will be displayed in the menu bar.
Settings icon: click on the icon with the slider bars to display the game control panel. Note that the control panel is often NOT available during game play, so make sure to save often.
In the control panel, you can save, restore, restart or quit the game. You can also change various settings, such as the detail (though that make no difference when playing in DOSBox), game speed, music volume (volume setting does not apply on speech volume) and text display length.
By clicking on the HalfDome icon, you see information on tech support and game credits.
If you play the multimedia version of Laura Bow 2, you can also switch between text or speech. You cannot have both enabled simultaneously. The text/speech buttons are not present in the control panel of the floppy version.
