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Always expect the unexpected from Durell. They beaver away quietly down in Somerset and always come up with original games at least one a year anyway. This time it's Thanatos, a magical mystery tour through a land full of dragons, demons and a beautiful sorceress to be rescued.

It's an arcade adventure with a difference. The difference is the scrolling "wide-screen" landscape you fly our hero, Thanatos the Dragon, through on his quest for truth and justice. And all because the sorceress wanted a magic cauldron.

I guess someone down at Durell has been reading Anne McCaffrey's dragon books because the idea owes a lot to these fantasy classics. You're in control of Thanatos, a great-big-green dragon.

The first part of the game involves flying Thanatos across hostile lands and seas and through dark caverns, all the time fighting off the attentions of arrow-firing, spear throwing locals. He ends up at a castle where the sorceress is waiting to be rescued. Then you carry the sorceress through yet more dangerous lands and seas in order to complete your task and find the magic cauldron.

Fortunately, like all dragons, Thanatos can breathe fire. This means he can roast anything that attacks him from the air or the ground.

His supply of fire is limited however the level is indicated at the bottom of the screen. He can obtain more solid fuel for his fire by eating witches - more of that later.

He also gets tired. Watch out for the heart on the right hand side of the screen. When it starts flashing Thanatos needs a rest. All you have to do, generally, is land and he'll be OK after a few seconds.

But you could be in trouble if he's surrounded by ant like human attackers or horrible flying bees or stuff like that.

The best way to kick off the game is to get to the first castle - important things are found in castles - as quick as possible. Don't worry about notching up a big score at this stage. Fly over attackers and only use your fire when in trouble. You'll need most of it to burn down the door of the castle. Once inside the castle watch out for a little figure waving at you in among the other figures firing things at you. Don't roast her, for this is the sorceress. Land and she'll run and climb up onto your broad and scaly back. Fly away into the wild blue yonder to escape the castle guards. And now the game really starts!

Life gets more and more difficult for the sorceress and Thanatos as they progress through this fascinating fantasy world. The seas are populated with long-necked monsters who reach up to snatch the sorceress from the dragon's back, the caverns are populated by nasty giant spiders with poisonous bites and the cities and castles are full of horrible people who think dragon hunting is in season all year round.

If Thanatos runs out of puff he can turn around and fly back to the nearest city where a witch is usually being burnt at the stake. It's the sort of thing they liked to watch in medieval time - well, they didn't watch Eastenders! Thanatos can eat the witch and gain more fire-power.

But watch out for the knight on a horse who tries to do a St George on you with his pointy lance. Could Thanatos have been set up here?

Each new part of the game provides a new challenge. More than enough to keep you coming back!

The graphics are interesting. Thanatos the dragon is a big, nicely animated character who performs neat turns and landings on request. Very obliging for a dragon is old Thanatos.

Scrolling is pretty smooth and colour clash problems are kept to a minimum thanks to an intelligent choice of background colour - black!

Thanatos is a novel mixture of adventure and arcade action. You could play it just to get a high score. But the best thing is to fly over the mysterious lands, discovering more each time you play. An interesting and playable game. Check it out.