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Palace OF Magic is the latest in a long line of arcade adventures from Superior Software. It's similar in many respects to one of Superior's earlier releases called Citadel - in fact I began to wonder why it wasn't called Citadel 2.

The scenario is quite simple. You have offended an evil wizard called Caldeti who has turned you into a dwarf and banished you into the Palace Of Magic. Your task is to search for a transporter, your only means of escape, which is hidden somewhere in the 100 screens which make up the Palace and the lands surrounding it.

You can move left and right and can jump up to twice your height to get over some obstacles. Ropes and ladders are also available to help you in your plight.

Scattered about the Palace are lots of coloured bases, some of which have keys or other useful objects sitting on them. You can only pick up or drop objects while you are standing on these coloured bases and you can only carry two objects at any onetime.

The keys are colour-coded and are necessary to open the similarly coloured gates which bar your way around the Palace.

Your task is made a lot harder by the fact that you are not the only living creature - the place is crammed full of unusual and nasty monsters who are out to get you. If you bump into any of these, they drain you of energy. If you lose all your energy, you die.

Fortunately, you are able to restore yourself by finding and absorbing energy which for some strange reason isstored in magical top hats.

The maze is complicated and the puzzles are challenging but not impossible. Some of the solutions are so obvious once you've discovered them. The graphics are quite good and most of the objects look like what they're supposed to be, which is a big help when it comes to figuring out where the objects should be used. There isn't a lot of sound in the game, but the game doesn't require much.

The only real criticism I can make about this game is that it has no Save facility. I found with its predecessor, Citadel, that once I had figured out a large number of the puzzles it could take around two hours to play the game up to the point where I could try something new.

I have to admit to being an avid arcade adventure fan. I still haven't solved all the mysteries of the Citadel and I know there are a lot of people in the same boat. Now, with the Palace Of Magic to escape from as well. I foresee many more late nights of problem solving for a lot of adventurers.