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Sigh - is it just me, or does anyone else thing these 3D Freescape thingies just don't work on 8-bit computers? Sure, they look good, they're innovative and an unbelievable achievement technically, but they're so damned s...l...o...w. Alas, Castle Master, though widely regarded as the best of the Freescape games, suffers from the similar snail-paced somnambulance as its soporific stablemates.

Magister is not a happy chappy. In fact, he's not a chappy at all, he's a rather aggrieved demon! A lazy git, he awoke from hundreds of years of slumber when someone built a castle on his resting place.

Swearing vengeance on all who dwelt there, he summoned every ounce of his demonic power, and... lost! Weakened by his excessively long kip, the Castle Master easily overcame him. Never one to give in, he rubbed the sleepy dust from his eyes and renewed his attack. This time he trashed the joint, throwing the inhabitants into a deep coma and kidnapping a member of the royal family (prince or princess, depending on which gender you want to play as the rescuer - full marks to Incentive on that score!).

You have just 24 hours to rescue your sovereign sibling, or he/she will be turned into a ghost and be forever shunned in royal circles. Before you can reach him/her, you must destroy the spooks haunting the castle - their numbers are indicated by the (ugh!) 'spirit level' at the bottom of the screen. There are also three potions and ten keys to be found. You begin your quest outside the castle, armed with a weedy slingshot, wondering whether to swim the shark-infested moat or lower the drawbridge. You eventually work out that if... on second thoughts, you can solve it yourself!

Castle Master is without doubt the finest of the Freescape games. The graphics are mean and moody, allowing freedom of exploration with the minimum of mapping, the setting is realistic and gives a real feeling of being there, and the puzzles - you'll be scratching your head for weeks. Trouble is, the joystick response and running speed makes travelling in a clapped out Fiat look positively lightning-paced! You plod along at a steady crawl wondering if you'll ever reach that far-off doorway, let you of the joystick as soon as you get there, then promptly take another pace!

Is the floor slippery, or what?!

As a technical achievement, Castle Master is a work of art, but at the end of the day, you either like the Freescape games or you don't. If you're into this sort of thing, check it out - it's the best yet! If you're into this sort of thing, check it out - it's the best yet! If you're not, it won't win you over.