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Remember those early adventure games calling themselves RPGs? A static screen would present a couple of options, either open the creaky wooden door to your let, or open the creaky wooden door to your right. Choosing which one to open was a monumental decision but as soon as you picked the door you'd be informed that. "Sorry, a gigantic dragon was lurking behind the door and you died." Infuriating, weren't they? Constantly hitting obscure dead ends, having to go back to the beginning and starting again. Well, Shadowgate Classic is arriving soon from what seems like the depth or time and it is the epitome of crappy RPGs.

To cut a contrived Sword 'N Sorcery story short, an evil warlock has holed himself up in a mysterious trap-laden castle, and you being the mast-head warrior you are, you decide to traipse on in and thwart his evil, world-conquering plans. From the very beginning, the Game Boy's colour palette is put to good use, ensuring that water is blue, fire red... you know, all the usual colours. It's just a shame that these well coloured individual screens are animated like a corpses' convention. Occasionally, the Game Boy will be required to pepper a few frames of animation in for good measure but the dull point and click repertoire beggars belief.

Injecting some atmosphere is the spooky music tinkling throughout, but even that doesn't raise enough interest to hook you. If you are hoping that to compensate for the graveyard of action happening on-screen the menu system is packed with spells, items, hit points, mana, and dark secrets you're sorely mistaken. The RPG element is as basic it could have been with so little player interaction we were surprised not to see the game play itself after putting it down and going to the pub instead! To recommend this game would be insulting to anyone with 20 quid to blow and to anyone who has heard of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, the Game Boy's best PRG, scoring 95%. Some traps are fiendish, yes. Some require a good thinking over before rushing into the 'action' and some will have you phoning friends asking their advice but with such a dull setting, no amount of masterminded trickery is going to remain interesting for long.

Common sense, a lot of spare time and the boredom threshold of an audience at the annual snail marathon will carry you through though... if you can be bothered.

One redeeming feature of Shadowgate Classic is that the action reads like a book. It is a game that, should you have a plentiful supply of batteries, you can keep by the side of the toilet, picking it up occasionally to trundle through a few 'pages' before putting it down and washing your hands. It won't captivate you any longer than a good bowel movement would do.