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What does a demon do when it's bored? Actually, scrub that question, as Demoniak is more than just a demon, it's pure evil, formed from everybody's dark side. Anyhow, this awful indvidual thinks that it's found a solution to its eternal boredom.

In its own universe, Demoniak is the master of all that is surveys - and that's quite a bit - but it still wants more, and our universe seems likely to become the next target.

Fortunately, Doc Cortex, the most intelligent human being ever, has detected Demoniak's presence and has called together four of Earth's most powerful superheroes to stop him.

Sirius - Man of Action - is a half-human, half-alien hybrid endowed with immense strength, Krya Brand (aka Flame) is a Pyrokine, able to convert her body into a mass of flame at any given time. Madlok is the Earth's current Sorcerer Supreme, while Sondra Houdini is a Marxist/Feminist psychic.

Together this motley crew should be able to collect the necessary components to construct a device capable of sealing the entrance which Demoniak hopes to use to gain access to our universe.

Unfortunately, for security reasons, Doc Cortex won't say what those components are. As the companions blast off to the icy planet of Freezyassov, Demoniak sits quietly, patiently waiting, timing his strike, collecting his strike, collecting his thoughts, chewing his nails, watching the grass grow.

For a text adventure to make the grade these days, it has to be something pretty special indeed - and Demoniak is certainly that. In a similar fashion to most Multi-User Games (or MUGs), all of the characters (bar three) are controlled by yourself.

That's not to say that they don't have any intelligence of their own though, in fact quite the reverse is the case. For example, taking control of a prison guard you could decide to turn rebel and start blasting away at the other guards.

They, in turn, start to retaliate and, in the confusion, you swap control to another guard. Using this character, you unlock the cell of a prisoner whom you want to take control of next. Then, walking out of the cell, you stand back and watch as the other guards pile into each other. Importantly for any text adventure, the parser (the part of the program which interprets your input) is quite competent, taking commands such as 'take all the red things from the bench' in its stride. Of course, the real beauty of Demoniak is the text.

The author, Alan Grant, is highly regarded in the world of comics and his humour and style is clearly evident here.

Demoniak's biggest problem is simply that it's a text adventure. Unless you're prepared to sit down and type, it's not going to be your cup of tea. Which is a shame, because it really is a fine cup of Earl Grey.