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Castle Master was and is one of the best 3D adventures to ever ooze out of a Spectrum. It's been released, re-released and re-re-released countless times in different guises, the last being a Domark compilation alongside some other classics. However on its own it stands out as a genuine triumph of coding against memory limitations.

Your task is to walk, run or even crawl, depending on the situation you find yourself in, around a medieval castle in search of your lost brother. The quest commences with you having to gain access to the fortress by figuring out a way to lower the drawbridge from outside. This is quickly solved and then it's heads down for the hard slog. The graphics are pretty spectacular, all things considered and the 3D aspect does give way to some great detail at times.

Whilst exploring the hundreds of locations and fiddling with the many puzzles and traps it's easy to get immersed in the world of Castle Master if it wasn't for a lack of speed when moving you could be glued to your task for hours without noticing how long you've been playing at all. Get bored with one perspective and you can even change the camera's angle to a more lively one.

The only quibble I'd have with the game is that its grainy visuals sometimes make it a little hard to see what's in a room and you can miss some clues unless your eyesight is A-one. Don't be put off though, if you're a bit fed up of run of the mill games and always thought of venturing into a graphical adventure, you can't get a better starting place than this. Not to everyone's taste, but definitely to mine.

Label: Hit Squad Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Steve Keen

An interesting first adventure for the uninitiated, more experienced wanderers won't get much of a challenge out of it though.