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For seventeen years, Bobbin Threadbare has been brought up as a low achiever in the Guild of Weavers on the island of Loom. He was content with his life, despite the Elders' strange insistence that he should not be allowed to attend school or make friends. One day though, everything was made startlingly clear when he heard his adoptive mother, Hetchel, having an argument with the Elders who settled the disagreement by changing her into a cygnet.

From what they were saying, Bobbin surmised that he isn't the dim-wit people want him to believe; he is, in fact, a child of the Loom, pulled out of the Guild's source of magical power, and so poses a threat to the centuries-long grip which the Elders have held over the community.

Armed from the outset with only a simple Opening spell, Bobbin must travel the world and seek his destiny, aided by the wisdom of his cygnet-mother.

Bobbin's quest unfolds before your very eyes in the latest interactive movie from the Lusasfilm stable. While displayed in a similar fashion to the Indy and Zak McKracken games, the programmers have done away with typed commands completely, and a simple click of the mouse over an object or area of the screen is enough to make Bobbin carry out the required action. An unusual feature of the game is the instruction manual - it's stored on a cassette and takes the form of a story spoken over a background of suitably spooky, mythical music.

My hopes were high for Loom after the excellent Indy adventure, and the game meets with expectations in almost every way. If anything, the graphic style works better than in the previous titles, with lots of atmospheric (and occasionally rather comical) animation and screens of lavish backdrops.

The cut-scenes which make this type of adventure stand out from the crowd are as enjoyable as ever to watch, and the different puzzles, ranging from finding required spells to working out how on earth to get into certain rooms without being hurled out, are taxing without being infuriating.

But in spite of all its good points, Loom is marred by one flaw - it's just too easy. It took me only one six-hour session to get from beginning to end, as opposed to almost a full day's play in Zak McKracken, and for £35 I think you should get more for your money - Loom is an extremely clever game which at times will have you tearing your hair out in sizeable chunks; trouble is, it's too good - you won't want to leave it alone (I missed a lunch hour playing it!) but for a product which looks as though it could go on for ever, Loom is ultimately disappointing just because it's all over so quickly.