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I think I would enjoy Expedition Amazon if I ever got a chance to play it - most of the time I was looking over the shoulders of my teenage offspring watching their progress.

This is because only two expeditions can be in progress at any time, that is, saved on the disc to be resumed later. It means that if I were to sneak a quick game while they are at school, and try to start a new expedition of my own, one of the existing parties would be wiped out.

This is a serious drawback in a good game - what a pity there is no facility to initialise another disc for storing lots of expeditions. Potentially dangerous situations could then be backed up and replayed several times.

The aim is to discover the fabled lost city of Ka, which lies buried beneath the jungle in Peru.

The scene is set by the prologue in the leaflet accompanying the game which describes how Professor Arrowhead - a part-time academic of somewhat dubious reputation - became convinced that Inca is really spelled In Ka - hence the lost city.

He also spells Indian as Injun - does this mean a possible follow-up set in North America?

There is lots of humour in the game. The fun starts with the pictures on the back of the disc envelope. As well as the usual warnings. Penguin advise us, for example, not to put the disc in the pop-up toaster, not to use it as part of a shish-kebab, nor to line the floor of the budgie's cage. But seriously after recruiting the expedition members - field assistant, medic, radio operator and guard - one goes predictably to the trading post to equip them.

After an appropriate message on the screen during the disc access - un momento por favor - one meets a wonderful character called Pedro who wiggles hi smoustache, winks at you, and tells the 'Gringo' appalling jokes until you can bear it no longer and press a key to get on with the game.

Once in the jungle the expedition begins to map the various sectors. The treasure they find can vary from the valuable - such as a raw diamond - to the worthless - a mere clay pot - or even the ridiculous - a pet rock, a Dr Spock book, or, would you believe, a Speak-and-Spell.

The hazards are equally bizarre - rabies, yellow fever, fleas which cause plague, and even crocodiles which can give a character 'big toe injuries'. In this game, D&D stands for disease and disability.

Treasure can be taken back to the trading post and sold to our old amigo, Pedro. He's something of a crook though, and bargaining can push up the prices.

When the team members have acquired enough equipment and built up their strength, they can begin to explore the underground tunnels trying to avoid being drowned in flooded crypts or wiped out by volcanic eruptions.

It is here, with animated action, they eventually find the maze and the door to the lost city. It takes a very long time.

If characters are killed, new ones can be recruited by finding the way back to base camp and though their expertise will be low, the expedition retains its equipment and money.

There is a choice of nine difficulty levels. Even level one, which is supposed to be very easy, is really quite hard so this should give many hours of entertainment.

A minor quibble is that the instructions consists of nine pages of print on the boot side of the disc so once the game is in progress and the disc turned over, they cannot be referred to.

On first playing the game, it is a good idea to make notes of key instructions. Why not provide these pages on paper and include them in the package?

Niggles apart, if a game is judged by the number of arguments about whose turn it is to play, then this looks like a winner.