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I must admit that I was extremely sceptical when I first heard about this game. How, I thought, is the programmer going to overcome those difficulties inherent in computer adaptations of real life sports?

CDS made their version of Pool outstanding by going for hyper-realism. Addictive Games made their Football Manager a strategy game but still maintained a fun, graphic element. Automata, in their inimitable style, have made Dartz a reasonable adaptation by forsaking all thoughts of realism for the sake of humour.

All you have to do in the game is stop a cross-hair as it flickers around a dartboard. This is achieved by way of the best keyboard layout on any game I know of. You only have to press one key and even then it doesn't matter which one. Having aimed, Eric, your player, makes his throw.

Eric certainly looks the part, being heavily overweight for such a small graphics character. But his arm moves nicely enough and the dart flies towards the target.

It all sounds simple enough but there are some interesting complications. For example, you may bc issued a 'warning' which means Eric has to pay a visit to the wee room or he may miss the board altogether. Why you may ask is Eric confronted with these particular problems? The answer is drink. At the start of each game Eric is given a quota of 2mg of alcohol per dart but this increases rapidly.

The program operates smoothly and graphics are clear and effective. Normally I'd say that a game this simple would be a good one for the kiddies but with all that drink around, I'm not too sure.

The sound is fairly minimal but complementary to the game, with rising and falling beeps attempting to raise your adrenalin.

There is only one key used during the game to stop the cross-hair and throw the dart, so it should be easy for any member of the family to challenge you to a game of 501 or 301.

Although this is a good version of computerised darts, it really wouldn't compare with the atmosphere of the local pub, even though you take regular gulps of the house beer to 'improve' your play.

Hic... shorry. Ish jusht that I can't sheem to shtop falling over and hic... hic... hicupping.

Anyway, there's these two dartboards... whoops, I mean one. Like any dart game on a micro it loses all sense of the real game and as a game in its on right it is not that good.

However, the idea of playing darts and tying it in with the drinking is up to Automata's usual warped standard.

It's the best attempt at darts I have seen on a computer but the humour is essential to keep you interested.