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Somebody at Head Office has got their wires crossed this month! Instead of all the wild and zappy new games I've been expecting, all the software industry can come up with are a selection of tie-in or re-released adventures! And these to a self-confessed non-adventure playing columnist...

Oh well, it's a dirty job and someone has to do it. Where shall we start?

The Ket Trilogy is a re-release on one tape of the classic Mountain Of Ket, Temple Of Vran and The Final Mission - all text only adventures set in the usual sort of world where magic and mayhem are unhappy bedfellows. Only you can undertake a perilous quest (aided only by your trusty verb-noun input) to confront and defeat the evil Vran, beyond the mountains.

Gripping stuff, eh? Well, I get the feeling we've all seen this type of adventure before and you either respond to it or you don't. Certainly the quality of these adventures is above the norm and the special price does suggest that neophyte adventurers might do a lot worse than be tempted by the package.

Staying for a moment in a world of might and mysticism, you can face the challenge of Masters Of The Universe! Now, the prospect of acting out the part of a toy (Adam, Prince or All Eternia, if you please) in a cosmic scrap with another toy (Skeletor, complete with Earthquaker and a hypnotised horde of Rockbinders) does not strike me as a serious occupation for a reviewer of advancing years.

This one I leave to those who can be inspired by a world where all the characters are created just so that Mattel can slap a trademark on them and who can exist in a land where we all shout theatrically all the time!!

Not for me - not even any tacky pictures to enjoy, unlike the abysmal cartoons from which this draws inspiration (if that isn't blasphemy to the Muses!).

And so to dear old Adrian Mole, whose Growing Pains will delight those who enjoyed the first in the series and depress the spirit of true adventurers who expect more than a hand in the time flux. You can't have a real adventure with Adrian; you can, however, suggest alternative avenues through his acned and adenoidal adolescence. Good as it goes, but sadly it doesn't really go anywhere.

Dave Reeder