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Guess what, guys? You and seven other adventurers are the only people who can recover the Disks of Mishakal from the dragon's dangerous lair.

Basically, you guide your party through dark passages killing monsters, firing at them and increasing your hit point by hacking more and more nasties into bits.

A special menu lets you pick up and use objects, change your leader, cast spells or save games.

Hang on, hang on - is this a D&D simulator or is it just a plain old hack-'em-up? Well, if you ask me, it's neither.

The scrolling's too jerky and the combat controls are far too awkward for it to be a hot action, 'cut their 'orrible heads off' slash-'em-up - and there just aren't enough options to make the D&D interesting.

Anyhow, by the time you've managed to select a magic option, you're normally a pretty helpless pile of evil-smelling meaty chunks - bleuch!

If you really want a joystick-only RPG, look out for Times Of Lore instead.

Aye well, this is a very nice box and a very nice manual and all that so you'd think there'd be summat quite good lurking underneath... There isn't.

Basically, the RPG/action combo just doesn't amount to much. Combat mode is about as easy as kissing a porcupine and the magic isn't interesting enough.

Whether you're a fan of RPG or not, you'd be a lot better off putting your £25 under the mattress and giving this a miss.

Presentation 78%
Glossy box and very detailed manual but you have to go through the intro every time you play a new game.

Graphics 60%
Lots of monsters and plain, but atmospheric, backdrops - scrolling's slightly jerky though.

Sound 39%
Introductory tune, very basic effects.

Hookability 60%
Looks good, but the manual might put hackers and slayers off a bit.

Lastability 37%
There's just not enough to the gameplay to keep you involved.

Overall 40%
A disappointingly inaccessible combo of action and RPG.