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Skara Brae has been destroyed, and must be released from its bond of ruin, by tracking down and eliminating the Evil One, who caused its destruction. Starting off from a refugee camp set in the heart of the ruins, you set about exploring the land together with a band of adventurers.

But before you can begin this epic, it is necessary to make backup copies of the two double-sided disks on which the game is recorded. The task is simplified through the use of a built-in formatter and copier.

You can choose to be accompanied by a band of characters already created on disk for you, or to build up your own set, assigning each a race, sex, and character attributes of strength, dexterity, intelligence, constitution and luck.

Building a character requires some thought, for those of poor calibre will be a handicap to the party when it sets out. For example, a strong but dim mage will be pretty useless - if your mage is intelligent, don't worry too much about his strength. To help select the right balance of attributes, there is a detailed set of tips and instructions in the 32 page booklet accompanying the game.

The screen constantly displays the names of the characters, together with details of their armour class, hit points, condition and spell points. About this, there is a small picture of what the party can see in the direction in which they are facing; to the right of this is the narrative. The map is based on a grid of squares, and the current position relative to the refugee camp is obtained by keying in '?', for example: 'You're in the Wilderness, and six paces north and round - but is it really this two paces south of the refugee camp of Skara Brae.'

It pays to map the grid, for these is little chance ot using the pictures to recognise where the party is. However, at the extremities of the Wasteland area, there is a roll-over to the opposite side of the map, making mapping extremely confusing, unless '?' is used quite frequently. After moving about 15 paces west, for example, further westerly movement will result in the party finding itself four paces east of the camp. So the world is small?

When monsters attack, it's up to the player to assign a mode to each member of his party, bearing in mind his or her weapons and attributes. They may attack, defend, hide, cast a spell, or merely strum a tune. As the fight progresses, a smoothly scrolling commentary appears in the narrative window. Should a bold adventurer get killed, there's always the chance of a miracle down at the local shrine, where a reincarnation may be purchased if you have enough readies.

There are many other features and subtleties of play.

Bard's Tale III is a big and complex game. It should not fail to enthrall role-playing enthusiasts.