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This game was released at Christmas by Taskset, and would have cost you eight pounds if you bought it then. Now, just seven months later, Taskset have disappeared and it's re-released for three pounds, a far more suitable price.

You land on the planet Megrom. With only Komputa, your robot, to help, you must destroy Darkon, The Evil One, who is using the awesome power of combined sorcery and science to enslave the people.

On loading you immediately notice the superb presentation. At the screen's top is the location description, which is usually well written if not particularly informative, and remains static; as does the picture on the left. Your commands are entered at the bottom, and are scrolled up with appropriate responses and messages in the remaining screen space. Colour is perfectly used to emphasize the text, and there's an attractive character set. The good effect is spoilt somewhat when you start to type. The input routine repeats letters too fast, even when you tap the keys lightly, so commands like "ZZAPP ROOBOT" are common.

The graphics are... different. They are green and black, and appear rather wishy washy and easily disregarded. Still, they are instant and hi-resolution, generally well drawn, and often respond to your actions which is a pleasant surprise.

Science fiction is such a hackneyed adventure theme that to hold my interest the game must be special. This one stands out because the technological mumbo-jumbo is blended effectively into the fallen civilisation of Megron, which has reverted to a simple, medieval style life yet still retains futurist sculptures and surveillance robots.

An atmosphere of bleak oppressivenes is created by the endless rain, the ancient ruins and strange relics. EXAMINE and LOOK must be used frequently to reveal important information, although the responses aren't always helpful. A command I liked was LEGEND, which, when used in certain places, describes their often sinister history and purpose.

That command is not mentioned in the instructions however, which are appalling. They're incredibly brief, don't explain unusual commands like ZAP and are mostly nonsensical. To quote: "ENTER the commands. You will need to enter specific commands... SAVE saves your current position". The scenario is incoherent, and doesn't explain your powers enough or Komputa's function.

As with all the adventures reviewed this month, vocabulary is too limitedat under 50 verbs. The parser is finicky about what it will accept and in particular character interaction is too difficult. Finding the right noun to examine is also tricky, and to enter buildings you must open a door whch isn't mentioned in the text.

There are problems aplenty, some challenging, some obvious, and some a little too obscure. The vocabulary makes them harder, and the pedantic parser provides no indication of whether you have the right idea.

These faults are sadly common to many recent adventures. Despite them, Darkon is an entertaining game which is sufficiently cheap for me to recommend to more experienced adventurers. Certainly one of the best budget adventures.