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A little old man had been telling some strange stories about the conflict between good and evil involving portals in time. You had not been paying too much attention, being more concerned with the after effect of the holocaust... but now that the old man has died, you decide that his theories, scatterbrained as they are, have got to offer a better alternative than your present situation.

The basic idea is that the Eight Minds have lost their most treasured possessions and in an attempt to find them, have left open the portals of time through which the forces of evil are continually pouring. The portals are controlled by a combination of runes and spells and so all that you have to do is to find and return the objects, line up the runes and cast the appropriate spell, so sealing the holes in the space-time continuum.

Time Trax is a complex arcade adventure featuring menu-driven commands. There are seven zones, each consisting of three screens. The time scale varies from 50000 BC to 2100 AD calling in on Egyptian, Medieval and Gothic times. Each zone has a different Mind with the exception of the present.

Your first task is to arm yourself with the gun and bullets hidden somewhere in your starting location. Typical objects to be searched include doors, chests, holes and furniture. Once armed, you can defend yourself and start looking for time portals. This is the poorest part of the game as you tend to get killed off very quickly at the start as you try to work out what on earth is going on. Your character can move and jump and you can call up an option screen that lets you manipulate objects, cast spells and swap items with the Minds etc.

Although the game is quite difficult to get into, there is an excellent instruction booklet explaining the different facets of the game. Time Trax is quite slow to play but it should appeal to those with devious minds who prefer to think a bit about their games rather than charging round collecting treasure and killing monsters.