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Whilst I'm not a great advocate of censorship, some of this game is of dubious taste and parents may feel that their children need protecting from its "adult" humour. But providing you are not easily offended, I think you'll love this. HRH is the most biting computer satire since Denis Through The Drinking Glass: this time the subject matter is (mostly) our royal family, and the irreverance is limitless.

You are horrified when your eagerly awaited DHSS envelope contains someone else's giro; then you notice the name and address. It belongs to Queen Elizabeth! And if you have hers - she must have yours! How will she afford the Queen Mother's meals on wheels on such a small sum? Will she have to sell the corgis to MacDonalds? What about her Oxfam clothing bill...? There's nothing for it but to return her giro personally.

You start in a post office, next to Princess Di waiting for her family allowance, and Prince William who is impersonating his father with a pair of huge rubber ears. Close by are further royals and, before the end of the game, you will have met the whole clan on your travels around London. Their personalities will be familiar to all Spiting Image fans: drunken Margaret, Greek Phillip, stupid Edward and randy Andy who provides many of those "adult" jokes I mentioned.

The humour itself is also along Spitting Image lines: some crude, some more subtle. I won't spoil the fun by giving too much away, but I particularly liked Madame Tussauds, where pride of place in both the Chamber of Horrors and the Gallery of Famous Murderers is taken by Margaret Thatcher. Later you face the gruesome task of impersonating her; yet, when doing so, you won't be allowed into the palace!

Description is lengthy, entertaining and well written, and characters wander round in convincingly independent fashion. There are a few, fairly average split screen graphics.

An incredible amount has been packed into this Quilled game, not just text but many special messages and amazing complexity. While this is no fault, some of the commands - particularly EXAMINE - have had their responsiveness sacrificed in order to fill everything in. Despite this misgiving, HRH is technically very sound. Vocabulary is adequate, but at a few points too obscure. Coming from a small company, I was pleasantly surprised at the skillful presentation. The actual game has polished appearance, RAMSAVE/LOAD is included and the packaging competes with many of the software big boys. My only major gripe is that this is a pound or two overpriced for a mail order product.

The actual adventure isn't quite up to Monster Hit standard. However, I had so much fun playing HRH, and its sheer originality and energy comes as such a welcome breath of fresh air in the face of countless middle earth games from Level 9 et al, that I've given one anyway. 8th Day are a company to watch.

I sincerely hope they reach a distribution deal to get HRH into the shops, but in the meantime write to 18 Flaxhill, Moreton, Wirral, Merseyside L46 7UH.

A Monster Hit.