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It looks like Merlin the magician has gone and got himself into trouble again. As his life long buddy, Maroc, it is your unenviable task to try and rescue the old fool. Herein lies the theme of Dragontorc from Hewson Consultants. Dragontore is a program which falls into that relatively new, but increasingly popular class of game, the arcade adventure.

Before the game begins you are given the option of controlling Maroc via a joystick, the default keys, or selecting your own. Your next decision is whether or not you wish to load a previously saved game. This is a common option on adventure games but it is the first time I have encountered it on an arcade/adventure package.

The opening scene depicts Maroc sitting cross-legged in a woodland clearing. By pressing the fire button a scroll appears at the bottom of the screen. The scroll displays the particular spells that are at your disposal. One of these gives you the power of movement, having selected this spell Maroc's astral projection leaves his body and can be moved around the screen.

On his travels Maroc will encounter numerous malevolent characters. Some of these may provide Maroc with new spells, should he be willing to trade specific items for them. In all there are 19 such spells, and you're going to need them all at some time or other.

As a game Dragontorc is very playable, but it still suffers from that age old problem of Sinclair Spectrum conversions. The graphics are clever but basic.

J.R.