Norman's log, Stardate 1254. 3pm. Searching for strange new C64 games is a long and rewarding process, but when your First Officer is someone as dumb as the Geek, sometimes you have to acknowledge failure. On such occasions a bit of time travelling seems advisable, and with Star Trek V about to hit the UK I've set the dial for the 23rd century with a 1986 American release. And for an expert Trekkie's perspective, I've brought along the Ed...

Stuart's log, Stardate 1255. 4pm. During routine exploration of uncharted space, the USS Enterprise has been attacked by a Romulan Bird Of Prey. Severe damage has been suffered and, while crew injuries are miraculously light, the ship's food stocks have been contaminated. Chief Engineer Scott says repairing the warp engines will take eight days at least, so to avoid starvation a food source must be found quickly. Within impulse engine range is the apparently barren Prometeus Four planet.

To explore the planet, a landing team is assembled including Kirk, Spock, McCoy and xenoethnologist (!) Hernanda Dimas. The team materialises near a mysterious obelisk, covered with a beautiful paisley pattern, partially spoiled by weird graffiti. As the landing party explores, it encounters a swift-footed alien with quicksilver eyes, then a complicated alien culture ruled over by a mysterious Afflictor.

It's the fortunate idiosyncracy of the Afflictor to gather together enormous quantities of krill in a big store house. If you could meet the Afflictor maybe you could negotiate, but the colour-coded gates to the central compound are closely guarded by Defenders wearing 'glassy, segmented armour of an evil, insectoid appearance...' and armed with a 'whip crowned with a blossom of curved glass needles'. The Prometheans can create glass by gathering together and humming at sand, which is useful since the Dune-like planet has little else. Clearly, popping down to a nearby planet to grab some good isn't going to be as simple as you might expect.

The screen display is split into three windows, one at the top with location and number of moves info, the main text window, and the input window which allows only a single line of text. This is a fairly severe limitation on interaction, as is a limited vocabulary, which betrays the program's age. The actual game however, is still very good. The opening episode where you come under attack from the Romulan warship is incredibly tense, emphasising how little Kirk can do without a competent bridge crew. And once the Romulan captain is beaten, you find out he's the brother of the Romulan commander killed in the classic 'Balance Of Terror' episode.

Obviously the authors are Star Trek fans, and they so perfectly recreate the atmosphere of the series that you instinctively visualise its studio, confined planetscapes. The format of show is perfect for a computer game; phrases like 'energize' and 'standard orbit' allow complex commands to be simplified. Then there's the fact Kirk can't do everything himself, but must ask the other members of the landing party to do things.

Characterization is good too - try and phaser a Defender and Spock retrains you by merely raising an eyebrow and suggesting it wouldn't be wise.

Personally I must admit to not being a great adventure fan, but the Star Trek theme of this certainly got me interested and thereafter it was a lot of fun. By comparison with Firebird's Star Trek, which had superb graphics but little of the series' spirit with Klingon battlecruisers being destroyed by the dozen, this is much the superior Star Trek game. Non-fans might find the presentation technically poor, but the prose is excellent and gameplay simple enough to be ideal for beginners. I only hope the Star Trek V movie is as good, not to mention the computer game, of course.

Norman's log, 2053. 8pm. What, Stu? You mean you've finished? Oh, thanks for a very interesting review. By the way, will I get paid for it? Only if I add my comments? Oh well, here goes...

I agree with the Ed totally and absolutely (Can I have my money now? No?). The Promethean Prophecy has got an intense sci-fi atmosphere and, despite its age (and its basic presentation) it still a great game. Even non-Trekkies (such as myself) will enjoy this classic adventure.