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Tai Pan, the officially licensed game of James Clavell's blockbusting novel, is set during the mid 19th century, when the eastern seaways teemed with trading ships.

The player takes the role of hero Dirk Struan, a merchant intent on becoming a rich and powerful Tai Pan by commerce - either legal or illegal. The money-making quest takes place across a series of flick-screen backdrops, with icons used to direct trading proceedings.

Dirk starts penniless, but a visit to the local town of Canton secures a loan of $300,000, repayable in six months on pain of death. The sum is sufficient to buy a ship - either a lorcha (smuggling ship), or a superior clipper with more cannon and crew. Unfortunately, a heavily armed frigate is out of range - at first.

Manning the ship comes next, and the crew is made up of either mercenaries, or far cheaper press-ganged labour. Inns are the best places to find the latter, and a club is necessary to 'persuade' a drunken sea dog to join. However, indiscriminate press-ganging can lead to gaol and execution if the police hear of Dirk's illicit actions. Another disadvantage of press-ganging is that conscripted individuals make up a potentially uncooperative and possibly mutinous crew.

When fully manned, the vessel is loaded with such valuable objects as maps, compasses, telescopes, sextants, foodstuffs and trading goods bought from warehouses and suppliers found in towns along the coast.

In many places of trade gambling dens are found where bets are placed on races between mythical beasts, substantially increasing funds if Dirk wages wisely. Other urban delights include a brothel and inn which are largely unnecessary except for pleasure (What's new?).

Throughout the quest smugglers attempt to sell Dirk their highly dangerous contraband. This is very profitable when traded between ports, but carries the slight risk of gaol (and even eternal damnation if you're at all religious).

At sea, the backdrop changes to show a map, beneath which are seven icons, used to raise and lower the ship's sails, assess the wind direction, provide a telescope, offer a combat mode, unfurl a map of the China Seas and feed the crew - highly important, otherwise they might mutiny from hunger or succumb to scurvy.

When Dirk controls a powerful frigate, he can turn privateer and plunder other craft. Cannonballs are fired using the icons below the main display, and a disabled ship is boarded by sailing alongside and killing its Captain. Fierce resistance is experienced during a fracas, and heavy losses of crew results in Dirk's ship becoming unsailable. The same is true for the opposition - don't kill too many enemy sailors, they're needed to sail the captured ship. Occasionally other privateers attempt to take captured ships and end Dirk's quest for fortune.

As a fleet is built up, a great trading empire is founded, generating enough wealth to repay Dirk's debt and leave him rich, rich, rich.

After the release date came and went about four times, and the clamour had more or less dissipated Tai Pan finally wended its weary way into the office.

The game itself is very much like an Oriental Pirates!. Trading is fairly innocuous; not going to raise too much blood pressure there. Sailing the China sea doesn't induce a lot of tension and the combat sequence is less than inspiring.

Tai Pan isn't a disaster, but none of the sections are at all original and the action just doesn't grab as it should. Try it, by all means, but don't expect too much.

At long last Tai Pan is here, but it's a real disappointment, folks. The music is repetitive, the graphics are decidedly uninspiring and the gameplay is even less engrossing. Guiding a jerky sprite around a series of Chinese towns with little to do but buy, sell and die does nothing for me.

After playing for a short while, lethargy soon took over, and being rich and famous in the 19th century becomes a less than desirable goal.

The controls are easy to master, but when the game offers so little to the player, who really wants to spend their time playing?

Tai Pan must have taken the slow board from China - after all, it's taken months and months to get here. Well, it's finally arrived, and the burning question must be 'has it been worth the wait'? Well, the answer is, unfortunately, no.

Although the programmers' ideas are full of Eastern promise, they sadly don't hit off. There are plenty of places to go, but unfortunately all the towns look the same, and sailing from one port to another becomes a tiresome chore very quickly. The action becomes repetitive alarmingly quickly, and even though I persevered, I found nothing to spark any sort of excitement - even the fighting sequences are dull.

The trading element is also shallow. It's a shame that Tai Pan's potential hasn't been tapped but, as it stands, it just doesn't offer enough entertainment for the money.

Presentation 79%
Easy to use icons and informative instructions.

Graphics 64%
Unimaginative sprites skate across a series of very flat backdrops.

Sound 67%
A repetitive, but bearable tune plays throughout.

Hookability 71%
The simplistic trading is easy to grasp and the action is mildly compelling.

Lastability 41%
The action swiftly palls when few towns have been explored and trading transations completed.

Overall 64%
A fairly good trading game which doesn't live up to its potential.