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St Brides, after flirting with Audiogenic, now seem to have settled down with CRL. CRL, in their turn, are demonstrating serious intent in the adventure market by taking on a number of well-known fringe adventures, including Robin of Sherlock and Bored of the Rings. How does this latest crazy offering shape up?

Well, let's face it, it had to be done sooner or later. The general adulation lavished on Crowther and Woods' original masterpiece, Colossal Cave, positively cries out to be satisfied; and I'm surprised that no-one has done it before. However, St Brides have filled the gap, and filled it very well indeed.

The Very Big Cave Adventure is Quill-ustrated, and the graphics are excellent. In fact, half the fun of the game is playing a graphics version of Colossal - I've always wondered what the Hall of the Mountain King looked like. St Brides have really made a great contribution to the game.

The game itself is, let's face it, absolutely farcical. It's chock full of the most appalling jokes I have even encountered. Right from the very beginning when you find yourself having to insert a penny in the slot to enter the small brick building, you are assaulted by a series of comic situations, some of which are genuinely amusing and some so un-funny that you have to laugh anyway.

The structure of the game itself is well thought out. The program takes on the role of a guide to show you through the caves. As such, it continually belittles your efforts ('You can't carry that much, wimp') and eggs you on. The responses are humorous and light-hearted, all combining to raise the level of enjoyment.

Just to give you the flavour of the game, you are almost immediately confronted by an angry bull that refuses to let you wander down the infamous locked grille. 'Are you still there?' roars the bull, having refused to let you pass... If you reply 'No', he goes away, because - you guessed it - he's a gully-bull.

OK, don't say I didn't warn you.

As it is, I found the game very enjoyable to play. There are one or two moments where I felt that the Quill-pauses were overdone and one had to wait rather longer than is desirable for an action to proceed on-screen. Apart from this, however, I feel that this game represents the Quill at it's best. Despite the rather high cost of £7.95, I feel that this is a must for all spelunkers.