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I must start by saying that I have not been greatly impressed by Kansas City's previous offerings, though they were better than a lot of the trivia posing as adventures which can be bought today. However, The Ferryman Awaits is a marked improvement which will keep many of you up until the early hours of the morning trying to fathom out who, why, what or how.

Kansas boasts that this adventure contains about 60k of text - some of which admittedly is used in the introductory passage - and room descriptions are evocative if rather macabre. Instructions are given in simple sentences, usually no longer than five words - certainly a welcome improvement on Ring Of Time.

The adventure is one of the most gory I have come across and as such should give immense pleasure to horror buffs. It is also riddled with dry humour - try this offering: "You play Mold, son of Mold, grandson of Mold. Your previous job was that of Dung Heaper for the City of Furgle. One of the perks of the job was permission to sleep near the warmth of the dung pits! Your present employment is part-time human sacrifice!"

Unfortunately, the adventure is also riddled with spelling mistakes - I noticed unfortunately and hideously on the first couple of screens. This is becoming all too common with recent releases.

Some of the problems are rather obscure and complicated, chiefly because the game has such a small vocabulary that you can do little except GET and DROP objects. It's a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for any hint that may lurk in the room descriptions.

Good imagery is created by more than six screens of introduction, which set out your task for you in black and white. It seems you are doomed to wander the wasteland of Juh which appears to be wholly populated by demons, pirates, devil worshippers and deformed creatures.

You are apparently filling the role of hero-adventurer after you made frantic attempts to leave your last employment (I can't for the life of me understand why).

As the adventure opens, you find yourself lying across a stone tablet waiting to be sacrificed by a crazed priest. You are "magically paralysed from the neck down! and your only salvation is to utter the immortal word: Nimlax.

If you enjoy a plethora of blood and guts and can tolerate the "Righty oh, matey" response to almost all you do then this adventure is for you. Otherwise I suggest you try Database's The Magic Sword.

Pendragon