Witch Hunt, good grief, this one brings back a few memories! This was the first River adventure I actually completed.

Up in the Highlands you and your lovely wife live a secluded life in a cottage. One fine morning you decide to walk off into the mist and get yourself trapped in a witch's cottage, probably never to be seen again... Even with the warnings of your wife ringing in your lug 'oles. Men, eh? Never listen, etc, etc.

Once inside the witch's cottage the cackling little woman grabs her hat and explains that if you do not follow her lead of placing the hat on one's bonce and turning around three times well... that's the last time you'll ever see Match Of The Day. Thinking twice about the advantages of not having to listen to Jimmy Hill ever again you still, finally, relent. Picking up the hat you copy the witch with the fashion show and a bit of twisting and shouting. As the smoke clears you find yourself lying on the floor of a cellar. Pity your cottage doesn't have a cellar, innit?

Call it nostalgia, but Witch Hunt is one of my favourites. Following the usual River design policy, the game is simply described with no fancy features to catch the eye - just solid gameplay. When I originally played this game (on the Spectrum) I did come across a bug with a puzzle where you try to get a knife out of a drawer. However, River has done the recent thing with the C64 conversion so this bug has been removed. All in all, one to look out for. Cracking stuff!

Next on the agenda is Realm Of Darkness which, although retaining the solid River design, is a disappointment to be because the plot lacks imagination. A basic treasure hunt, Realm Of Darkness asks you to recover the Crown Jewels. It'll while away an hour or two but won't raise the heartbeat at all.

Moving swiftly onwards to The Cup which tells of an Irishman who has won the cup at the Cricklewood Liar's Club after his story involving wild adventures, lions, you know the sort of thing. That night, though, you hear a scream. Up you get to find the Irishman dying, his back covered in bloody clawmarks. He tells you to get out while you can, before the lion gets you too. Huh! Lions in Cricklewood? Surely not? So off you pop to see if you can retrieve the missing cup.

The Cup, in stark contrast to Realms Of Darkness, has an original plot with a fair amount of puzzles that shouldn't be too difficult to conquer. Different plot, average sort of game.

The bottom line? Witch Hunt is the star of three games here with the other two giving sufficient padding to offer value for money.