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You are the pilot of a spy plane which has crashed whilst on a mission over Russia. To survive you must make your way to the Chinese border avoiding detection by enemy troops and fighting off the effects of the severe cold. Such a theme could provide the basis for a thrilling adventure game. It is such a pity that the Shadow of the Bear does not fit this category.

The adventure consists of two distinct phases. The movement phase, in which you use the cursor keys to indicate the direction in which you wish to move. With each move a picture illustrating your new location is drawn. Waiting for these scenes to be drawn merely adds to the tedium of the game. Whenever you wish to do anything other than move you press the "I" key to enter the command phase of the game. This is the method by which you enter your normal adventure type commands such as Get gun etc.

The adventure is not of the puzzle-solving variety. Your main objective is to keep your energy and heat reserves topped up. Kuma claim that the game offers new challenges each time it is played. Though I can't imagine anyone wanting to play it more than once. A good example of the poor programing employed is the fact that the keyboard buffer is not flushed when in the command phase. Accidentally keep your hand on the Return key and you could spend the next five minutes watching the program going round and round in circles.

Even at a price of £3.95 this game is still over priced!

J.R.