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First impressions of The Hobbit are good - a fat package with cassette, instruction leaflet and a copy of Tolkien's Hobbit book.

The instructions take you through the task of communicating with the computer, giving the vocabulary, rules of input and general play concepts, but won't give you any clues. Try reading the book...

Sadly, this version is restricted by the BBC's mere 32K of memory, and unlike the Spectrum original has no graphics display, which seems a great pity. Still, those who like myself are used to text-only adventures will find that they enjoy the game anyway.

As well as a save game facility, the program has a printout mode in which the screen output can be fed to a printer - very good for finding your way about, as you can refer back to previous printouts.

The cassette is recorded on both sides. Just as well, as on my copy one side wouldn't always load. The tape tended to jam up, too.

Fifteen pounds seems a bit steep, even for a program this size, but The Hobbit will give rich adventure fans many hours of brain-racking fun.

J.H.