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Having tormented myself with the tortuous paths of Zork, and the unlimited boundaries of Starcross, I thought I might try something a little less complex, so I turned to Infocom's Suspended.

I should have known better, for this game was every bit as involved as the others from the Infocom stable. Suspended had one difference. The game has many skill levels, and if successful on one level, the player can move on to the next.

If all the available skill levels have been completed (wishful thinking?) then the player can go on and create his own level.

This must be a first in computer adventuring, and I liked it, for it means that as one's knowledge of the game grows, its complexities can be increased.

Suspended comes complete with a colourful gaming board and pieces plus, of course, comprehensive instructions and a diskette.

As the game starts, the player finds himself awoken from a 500 year cryogenic sleep, during which his mind was monitoring three master computers which maintained the planet's weather, food production and transportation systems. The computers have been damaged, and the objective of the game is to repair them, and meanwhile, to take over manually the tasks of the computers. Failure to do so means the game comes to a low and painful end.

To help achieve this mammoth task, you have control of six maintenance robots which are your eyes and ears. Each robot has its own personality and perception of its surroundings, so you may get six totally different descriptions of each area, and any objects you find.

Most Suspended players will, I feel, adopt his or her favourite robot since they are endowed with characteristics that enable the player to associate with them. I found I favoured one called "Poet" since most of his communication was in verse.

Early on in the game, the player will soon discover the need to use the game board for, with all six robots in play at a time, it can prove almost impossible to remember who is where!

So there you have it - a game I greatly enjoyed, and one I would highly recommend. Suspended is from Infocom, and the Atari version which I played costs about £37.