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The Talisman is one of Games Workshop's latest offerings for the Spectrum and, after battling my way through Tower Of Despair, I was looking forward to much the same sort of action. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

The introduction tells of an action-packed arcade style adventure for one to four players. There are over fifty graphics locations - a successor to Valhalla, perhaps? So I started into the game, and then came the crunch. After the initial novelty had worn off, I lost interest and it became a real bore to play, just like Valhalla. I have never liked these so-called "arcade adventures" anyway, so therein could lie the whole problem.

The graphics in The Talisman by no means come up to the same standard as those in Valhalla. They may be about ten times faster, but they are reminiscent of a very old cartoon film, even down to clouds of dust and flashing words which surround the characters fighting it out.

Moving around on the screen is achieved by use of the two cursor keys. On reaching the edge of some screens, you are asked if you would like to go north; or whatever. I found that trying to stop just before the edge of the screen was a little difficult - instead of stopping when I let go of the keys, my little character kept on going all by itself.

These, of course, are my personal views - if you are the sort of adventurer who enjoys playing this type of game then you may decide that it is the best thing since floppy discs, but for me this adventure is summed up in one word - poor!