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Swords And Sorcery has been the root of many rumours in the Spectrum world. Remember Psyclapse and Bandersnatch? Of course you don't. Those games never got beyond fancy adverts. PSS have taken a much more sensible attitude. No hype. They let the game speak for itself.

When Spectrum owners hear the name, a frequent reply is "Ooh, so it really exists?!". Well, it most certainly does, and it's been worth the wait.

There is a quite phenomenal amount of paperwork with the cassette. About thirteen A4 pages. The first few hundred words give an introduction. The authors have made a brave attempt to make the somewhat humdrum plot sound interesting. The aim is to venture into the darkest recesses of the dungeon, and return with a suit of armour. Honest!

Okay, not the strongest of plots. But I for one would rather go looking for a suit of armour than pick up every sparkling trinket that comes to hand!

One of the elements which sets Swords And Sorcery apart from anything else is that is only uses six keys.

Do not despair, purist adventurers! Three of these are used for movement (turn left, turn right and walk forward) whilst the other three are used in conjunction with the fiendishly simple menu system. More on that later.

The screen is set up into various sectors. There is a wide band for text (insults, greetings and war cries) in the lower-middle area.

The menu system is not easy to explain fully (it took PSS four pages, and they wrote it). If you imagine a line of text at the bottom of the screen with the left-most command highlighted; "HIT magic act talk use".

Now, two keys will move the line left or right, highlighting each new command as it reaches the left hand side of the screen, and the third will select the option.

Each of these base commands will then produce a sub-menu. "Hit", for example, will display the various forms of attack you can use. IF you're holding a sword, you could HACK your opponent.

Magic works on the same principle, when you select the desired spell, there is a suitable special effect, and the program will inform you how well it worked.

Handle and Act are very similar. Both allow you to manipulate objects. The easy way to remember is that, generally, Act is for objects on the ground and Handle is to use something you are already holding. The Act menu also allows you to jump, which (logically) causes the scenery to go down for a second!

The graphics are very good. Each monster (There are nearly fifty different species) will loom out of the murky passage in 3D before confronting you. All are clearly identifiable (and a little daunting!).

Also chests and various other objects, like bottles of wine and sandwiches are drawn.

Talking to the people you meet is great fun! You can be friendly or unfriendly, depending on your mood, insult them, bribe, threaten, or shout at them. The computer will concoct a suitable combination of the creature's name and another phrase. The characters will respond - often physically!

Something I found a little frustrating was the speed of combat. It is very easy to panic after being attacked, and completely miss your desired option. Instead of hacking at a skeleton, I found myself trying to pick the lock on a sandwich! This is easily corrected, and very rarely fatal.

As in Dungeons And Dragons - and some superior games - your character has a list of attributes which will help him through his quest. These determine whether it is feasible to ask Kevin The Strange to eat the chest.

To complement the living foes you will encounter, PSS have also included a number of other traps. The standard "dirty-great-hole-in-the-middle-of-the-floor" crops up, as well as a number of more inventive things, like moving walls, matter transmitters and magical barriers.

Sometimes "You sense a trap" will appear on the screen. PSS say that jumping is a good way to escape these, but I always jumped into a "dirty-great-hole-in-the-middle-of-the-floor"...!!

PSS are planning many add-on modules to expand the game - three more dungeon levels available in December and The Village module - used to enhance your character's skills and abilities and The Arena which allows you to get involved in combat with other players.

For real fans there are badges, t-shirts and posters!

This game can't be classified. It's unique. When it eventually hits the shelves of your local store, raid your piggy-bank!