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He's here! The axe-wielding barbarian called Slaine is about to hack, slash 'n slay his way through a very original adventure game.

I say adventure - but Slaine isn't like any other adventure you've ever played, it isn't like any arcade adventure you seen - in fact, it isn't quite like any game you've ever seen.

It uses a new interactive system called Reflex which sets out to reproduce the way random thoughts flash through your mind - and how you grab these thoughts and turn them into actions.

Not quite sure if the system is as fine-tuned as it should be yet - but it doesn't take anything away from the originality of this game - based on the cult comic hero from 2000AD.

But first let's take a look at the story behind the game. The peace of the village of Tautega has been shattered by the death of the Star Seer, Cas Wallen.

A reclusive Drune - a sort of wizard - who lived in the Sky Tower, was blamed for the Seer's death and as punishment was locked in his own fortress by the villagers. The Drune's daughter, Reya, freed her bad old dad - and to show his appreciation he entombed her in the tower! Why? Because Reya could destroy him by revealing his name to the villagers. Nice guy this Drune!

And to prove it, he set about taking his revenge on the villagers who had imprisoned him, laying waste to the land.

The Drune went too far and was killed during his frenzy of revenge. But before he died he uttered a curse which brought perpetual night to the land. The people buried the Drune inside a stone circle under an unmarked gravestone.

That's where the unwitting Slaine comes in. He gets caught up in a quest to bring light back to the land, and rescue the Drune's daughter.

Load in the game and you see a different sort of screen layout. On the Spectrum version the left hand side of the screen is taken up by the "brain" window, where random thoughts and possible actions scroll back and forth. Two small "hand" icons, representing Slaine and his smelly sidekick, Ukko the dwarf, are used to "grab" these thoughts in any combination the player thinks fit.

Basically you get a sort of control menu which opens out other possible actions or options as you play the game.

Catching the correct option can sometimes be irritating and frustrating - but the further you get into the game the easier this control system becomes.

At the top right of the screen is a large scroll which gives you basic information about your current location. Below that comic-style graphic windows or text windows open as you play - giving you pictures of the characters and or locations plus any relevant text info.

These graphics, created by the Creative Reality team, are excellent - capturing the feel of the comic hero and the atmosphere of the land he inhabits.

As you explore, you learn more about the land and the quest which Slaine finds himself drawn into. The packaging doesn't give much away about what you actually have to do - but learning is all part of the appeal of this game.

Meanwhile, back at the "brain" window - you can put together some quite complicated actions using the menu-style parser - such as: "drop the coins and give the axe to Ukko", or "open the chest and look into it". But, as I've said before, it takes a bit of practice to master the system.

The Amstrad version has a different screen layout with two "brain" windows, which makes things even more complicated. I preferred the Spectrum version because of this.

To help you know if you've positioned over "hand" correctly over a "thought" the word shimmers and vanishes if you've hit it just right.

Slaine uses a Dungeons And Dragons-style combat system of hit points - but you still have to use the "brain" window to control Slaine's actions. You can make him punch, kick, throw an axe and so on. Use the scroll at the top of the screen as a guide to see what you should go for next as it tells you what your opponents are up to, and how much damage they've inflicted on you.

You can also send Slaine into a warp spasm - a sort of ancient smart bomb! - and he'll wipe out anything he can lay his axe on. But you have to have enough "warp points" to accomplish this. How these are earned I'm not quite sure - but resting seems to help!

Overall Slaine is a brave attempt at trying something new. However, at times I felt the Reflex system was stopping me getting to the meat of the game - it looks to have real depth of gameplay.

But I will be going back for more adventures with our mean and muscle-bound barbarian. Slaine has a real addictive quality that most ordinary adventures just don't ahve - in fact, you could say that it refreshes the parts that other games can't reach.