Many of the smaller software companies cannot afford large advertisements and tend to go relatively unnoticed. That doesn't mean that their adventure games are necessarily inferior, as I discovered when I played The Prisoner, from Spoof Software.

The Prisoner is based on the television series of the game name and many of the locations in it will be instantly recognisable to followers of the programmes.

The character you assume is No. 6, surely the most famous number ever! You wake up in a village - really a high security prison for ex-secret service personnel, to ensure they don't spill the beans! From your room, you progress outside where you see many weird things - a statue, a rock boat and a taxi to nowhere!

The first real problem is to overcome your hunger which develops to fatality after 30 moves. Not a brilliantly original trap, but its saving grace is a nearby restaurant where, during the course of a meal, you may come across the Book of the Village. Reading this transports you to some very original problems based on various episodes in the series. On the way to your goal, you are confronted with such things as exploding cricket balls and poisoned ale.

The Prisoner has been written using The Quill plus the new Illustrator. The graphics produced with The Illustrator are just simple line drawings which do not add to the game and, like most adventures with graphics, a larger vocabulary would have been preferable. On the other hand, good use is made of colour and sound and a new character set has been created.

I can recommend this as a well thought out and well written game. I hope to see more from Spoof soon!

The Prisoner is for the 48K Spectrum priced £5.50, including postage and packing, and in case you have difficulty in locating Spoof, they are at 58 Railway Road, Urmston, Manchester M31 1XT.