Level 9 have built a reputation for good, honest adventures and the Jewels Of Darkness trilogy brings together three of their best known adventures in a new and exciting way.

Colossal Adventure, Adventure Quest and Dungeon Adventure were originally text-only programs but now the addition of colour graphics, a better parser and more detailed descriptions has breathed new life into these well-known games. Even those who know the adventures inside out may wish to have this beautifully boxed set with the fantasy novella by Peter McBride.

Colossal Adventure is one of the most famous adventures ever, and is the archetypal underground quest. On meeting a travel-stained warrior in the local tavern, you listen to his tale of finding the fabled Colossal Cavern which is reputed to hold treasure beyond belief. You believe him because he obviously has a fortune with him.

You are curious about the traveller's tale but others are sceptical and plot to ambush this unfortunate traveller to relieve him of his 'ill-gotten' gains. Overhearing this plan, you warn the warrior who repays you with a map of the cavern. The promise of wealth beyond measure proves too much for you. Along the way, you lose the map and so you find yourself leaning on the wall of a building close to the mouth of the cave...

Adventure Quest takes place in the same land but several centuries later. The land has been in the grip of famine and now an evil lord threatens to subjugate the lands. Although you are a novice wizard the lot falls to you to defeat Lord Agaliarept single-handed.

Travelling towards the Black Tower, on the far edge of the world, your task is to enter the tower, find the Amulet of Life and destroy the Demon Lord's power. To do this, you must first find the four Stones of the Elements and so the adventure begins.

If there's no rest for the wicked then there's even less rest for the good Just a day has passed since overcoming Agaliarept and already you have a new assignment. This time your lust for riches gets the better of you. The Demon Lord is dead and his hordes in flight. Now is the time to raid his dungeons and plunder the wealth that lies there.

This is the start of the Dungeon Adventure but you are waylaid by brigands, robbed of all your weapons and magic, and cast into the river (life gets really tough for adventurers at times!). Fortunately you survive and must make your way once more to the depths of the Black Tower's dungeons.

These are the scenarios and the atmospheric descriptions in the booklet "The Darkness Rises" is carried through into the adventures themselves. The problems encountered often require the use of all of your guile and cunning because they are not necessarily simple 'find it and use it immediately' tasks. Some of the objects will hinder rather than help, but working out which of your possessions is causing the problem creates a problem in itself.

The new parser allows complex commands which is a vast improvement on the original games' language which mainly consisted of verb-noun constructions. The vocabulary also allows you to turn the pictures off and on and the HELP command gives aid to novice adventures. These helps are mainly at the beginning of the game so don't expect any assistance from the program when the going gets tough later on. Those in dire need of help can always use the request form to get a very detailed and cleverly constructed hint sheet which will help you out of any situation.

For the careless adventurer there is also the OOPS facility which allows you to undo your last few moves. This is useful if premature death occurs, but if the cause of your folly occurred much earlier in the game you'd be advised to keep saving your game to tape at regular intervals.

The greatest adventure for me is coping with the Lenslok security system which is a total nuisance and always takes me several irritating attempts to get the system going. That is prevents piracy is debateable. Surely there must be a better way?

To some the £15 price tag may seem a little steep but rest assured that it is money well invested. How much would you pay for the best part of a year's entertainment? These are not games which can be completed in a couple of weeks (unless you are constantly in front of your computer). Much of the time is spent away from the computer worrying your friends by muttering phrases like 'what use is the word Xyzzy' and 'if only I could find a lamp all my problems would be solved'.

One thing's for sure: these adventures will either give you a sense of achievement or reduce you to a jibbering idiot. If you want to experience the thrill of adventuring take my advice, no collection is complete without Rainbird's trilogy.