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Based closely on Dungeons and Dragons, this action adventure places you in the realm of Sosaria which is populated by a host of nasties including thieves, skeletons, demons, giants, orcs and wizards. Before starting the adventure certain rituals must be performed.

The game is disc-based because of all the locations involved in the game. It is necessary to transfer the scenario information onto a disc of your own before you can start your first game. This done, you are ready to embark on the game proper.

First of all you must create at least four characters from the menus given in the manual. Each character has two main attributes: race and profession. Race determines the relative amounts of strength, dexterity, intelligence and wisdom which each character can attain but each attribute can be allotted a certain amount of energy at the beginning of the game.

Profession dictates the weapons and armour which can be used as well as whether the character can use magic or has some other specialisation. The five races are human, elf, dwarf, bobbit and fuzzy, with eleven possible professions such as wizard, cleric, druid or ranger.

With this number of options the variations are virtually limitless but 20 characters can be defined. Character definition also allows you to specify the sex of the character as male, female or other but this has no effect on the game whatsoever. Having thought up at least four names and distributed energy according to type a party can be formed. One niggling thing about the menu selection system is that it rarely permits second thoughts and, once a decision is made, it must be adhered to.

During the adventuring phase, commands are given with single key presses and a comprehensive easy reference chart is provided of all the commands available. Each letter used sensibly related to the command, for example, U for unlock or X for exit.

Initially you are placed naked and unarmed on the plains of Sosaria, an island with pirates raiding the shore. You have cloth armour, a dagger each and a quantity of gold so the first task is to dress, arm and then make for the nearest town to buy extra arms and provisions (starving to death is a distinct possibility otherwise!).

On the "surface" you may find yourself attacked by a group of enemies and the scene changes to give a closer view of the battle. Each player in turn has a chance to move or attack. Movement is by keyboard control - it's a pity that this conversion does not take the joystick port into consideration. Attack can be physical assault with a weapon at close quarters or by magic at a distance. The problem with magic is that there are 32 possible spells but no booklet to tell you what they do. This is a serious omission which I hope will be corrected, trial and error can only go so far.

Success in battle means a gold reward in a casket which is often booby-trapped and must be opened with care. The gold can be used to buy healing, armour, weapons or food in the nearest town or castle.

When all your men are killed the game ends abruptly and cannot be restarted without reloading the game from scratch.

This is an excellently conceived game which I recommend as the best action adventure available for the C64, despite my reservations that the conversion could have been better thought out.

E. D.