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In 1983 the first laser disk arcade game appeared - Sega's Astron Belt. Its mixture of real-life imagines, computer graphics and CD sound was hailed as revolutionary, even though the game itself wasn't particularly brilliant. A few months later, laser disk technology was used to produce the first interactive cartoon game, Dragon's Lair.

It looked and sounded incredible, but unfortunately the gameplay was restrictive. All the player had to do was push the joystick in the right direction or press the fire button at the right time to continue to the next sequence; failure to do so resulted in an often humorous death sequence. Still, from this beginning, it was hoped that the format would produce great things.

Sadly this wasn't to be. William's Star Rider, a fabulous motorcycle race game, certainly showed what the laser disk was capable of producting, but the incredibly expensive machines were prone to frequent failure (especially in seaside resorts, where sand getting into the scanning equipment caused nothing but problems), and the format died out.

Now Don Bluth, designer of the original game, has got together with Readysoft to produce an Amiga version of the game, which fully captures the spirit of the classic arcade game. Unlike Software Projects' version of Dragon Lair (and the sequel Escape From Singe's Castle), where the game was recreated in a series of arcade-style screens, Readysoft have producted the game as you'd see it in the arcades - like a cartoon!

For those who never saw the arcade game, Dragon's Lair casts the player as Dirk Daring, a courageous knight out to rescue a beautiful princess from the clutches of Singe, a giant green dragon. And he's not jolly. The mission of mercy involves entering Singe's castle and avoiding a variety of hazards and monsters before finally confronting the fire-spitting one himself.

The Amiga version of Dragon's Lair comes on a massive *six* disks, and a 1 megabyte memory is required to run the game. But when you actually see it, it's easy to see why so much memory is taken up - the game looks just like a cartoon, and I'm not kidding. Massive sprites, silky smooth animation and real perspective shifts are all part and parcel of this stunning-looking game. Not only that, there are also great chunks of speech and sound effects sampled from the arcade machine.

Dirk starts outside the castle, and gives a mean 'n shifty look left and right before turning around and scampering across the drawbridge. Not is all as it seems however, and the drawbridge collapses, leaving Dirk hanging from the debris. Within a second, a horrid monster with writhing tentacles bursts from the moat and attacks, presenting the player with the first of many problems. Which action should Dirk take? Should he jump off the drawbridge, or take a swipe at the pink leviathan with his trusty broadsword?

Actions are undertaken by moving the joystick or pressing fire - and the wrong move results in the loss of one of Dirk's three lives, while a correct move results in Dirk completing that manoeuvre, and the next action is attempted. When the scene has been completed, the next one loads. Failure in a scene requires the player to replay it from the beginning.

The timing of moves is critical and often finnicky, which can become frustrating, especially since you have to start all the way from the beginning with every new game. Still, the arcade game had similar faults.

The adventure continues in this vein, some scenes requiring multiple actions, and others just a well-timed press of the fire button. To squeeze a little more out of the game, some scenes are played twice, one normally, and the other a mirror image, so the opposite moves have to be used.

Although Dragon's Lair looks and sounds absolutely incredible - it's by far the most visually impressive computer game to date - it has one serious flaw: it lacks lasting appeal. I admit that I thoroughly enjoy playing it, but the game is the same every time you play it, and once you know all the moves required to go through each scene, it all becomes a matter of strict routine. Working out how to do each scene is a process of elimination, rather than skill, and it doesn't take very long to go all the way through the game.

The gargantuan price tag is also a major gripe. Even though there are six disks, the amount of actual gameplay is minimal.

Dragon's Lair is a superb demonstration of the Amiga's graphics and sound potential - it's just a shame that there isn't much of a game to play.