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To be honest, it was the unusual box that attracted me to Fantasy Software's Doomsday Castle more than anything else (it looks more like a book that the customary cassette box that I am used to). One advantage of this feature is that it allows the use of a removable instruction sheet which is easier to glance at than an inlay card. The literature enclosed, although long, is both thorough and witty and worth reading. However, I am glad that the oddity of the wrapping of this game persuaded me to part with my £6.50 as it is one of the best games I've seen in a long time.

The villain of this piece is the infinitely evil Scarthax who has found six ancient magic stones which enable him to control the universe. He has imprisoned them in Doomsday Castle but has placed them in separate rooms because if all six are brought together there will be a chain reaction causing instant anihilation.

The program loads in three minutes 35 seconds and confronts you with a menu of controls, there are seven to choose from: the Fuller, Kempston, Sinclair and Cursor joysticks or a choice of three keyboard layouts. Although the latter is a good idea, user-definable keys would have been better.

You control the hero, Ziggy, who flies about in an exploratory Capsule armed only with a Mini Missile Launcher, with which he can destroy Urks, Neucloids, Orphacs and doors. However, after sixteen door-shots your MML will run out of Theta Radiation which gives sufficient power to destroy and in order to recharge you must kill eight Urks, absorbing their radiation. At the bottom of the screen is shown your shield power. This commences at 1,000 and gradually decreases as you collide with are are shot by the various inhabitants of the castle (when this reaches zero Ziggy will shortly die).

Doomsday Castle consists of 25 hals and 49 connecting passages. Each hall contains four doors, two lifts (which you cannot use) and an antechamber. One of the doors you will already have come through and so will not be able to use it again (when this occurs the door is coloured blue). The only way to get through the exit doors which are coloured red, is by blasting them away; this is quite an involved process! The Antechamber stands at the bottom and contains either a crystal or an Ancient Stone. A crystal will increase your Sheild Power whilst the stones will add to your score. On top of the Antechamber sits a Googly Bird, one of which inhabits every hall. Its main aim in life is to sleep but if woken it will fly up to the ceiling and unleach a thread which will greatly sap your shield power. The only way the above bird can be woken is if an Urk falls on its head: you must therefore prevent them doing this.

As you explore the castle you will find that Urks are the commonest form of life there; they take over fifty different forms (one type in each room). Urks will atomize should they come into contact with absolutely anything. However, they will drain your shield power.

A Garthod sits on each lift firing indiscriminately across the hall. They constantly grim except when shooting them, when they bear an amusing frown.

Should you manage to shoot your way out of a hall you will be sucked along a narrow corridor where the name of the hall you have just left, your score, the high score, the stones collected and your shield power are displayed. You are then plummetted into a larger passage where you are locked in with Neucloids, Orphacs and, of course, Urks. Neucloids are very primitive, single-cell creatures which multiply at an alarming rate and are very difficult to destroy. Orphacs are programmed robots which will bounce off the walls until they hit you. There are two doors in the passage, one of which you will just have come through and the other through which you must exit. However, unlike in the halls the exit is operated by a time lock so you must wait until it opens, avoiding the alien wildlife and losing as little shield power as possible.

At the end of each game your score is shown together with a code and if you wish you can send both of these into Fantasy and they may be published in one of the two high score tables published annually. One small point, in this game points are acquired by the number of Ancient Stones gained and not by the number of aliens killed; interesting.

Doomsday Castle is available for the 48K Spectrum from Fantasy Software. Its superb graphics, sound and absorbing playability make it well worth £6.50. I highly recommend you to buy it.