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Set in the mystical Far East, you play the part of a young Buddhist monk attempting to reach the enlightened level of initiate. To do this, you must light some incense under the statue of the great golden Buddha on the island, although you are warned that your task will not be an easy one.

The monk has four pockets in which he can store items that he has found. Items can be fetched, stored, used or thrown and working out exactly what each item does forms the main part of the game. As you wander around, you meet various creatures. Some will be friendly although most will have to be fought. This involves a mini martial arts simulation in which you can jump, duck, block and punch. Some opponents need to be destroyed with a special item rather than just straight combat.

You start with four lives and your energy supply for eacch life decreases as you suffer wounds in battle. You must also watch your age. You start at 16 but can age magically during the course of the game, and it is curtains for you if you reach the age of 99.

Each screen is loaded separately from disk and it seems to take forever. The backdrops are very well drawn and you can get a description of your current location if you so desire. Moving off the edge of a screen takes you on to the next, although a particular screen will often have several exits - look for small paths leading off through the mountains. Watch also for your monk making small movements up or down, as this could well indicate the presence of a secret path.

The authors of Golden Path seem to have taken a few elements from various game types - adventure, arcade adventure and kung-fu games - thrown them all together... and missed! The gameplay lacks any real sort of cohesion and the fact that you have to sit around waiting for things to load doesn't exactly add to the atmosphere.