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Such were the forces and energies released when Exodus was finally destroyed that mountains rose and lands sank. The resulting world became known as Britannia and was ruled by Lord English. Now intent on improving the quality of his subjects' lives, he is looking for someone to complete the Quest for the Avatar and so take his country from its previous three dark ages into an Age of Light.

The destruction of the three dark ages were detailed in the games Ultima I, II and III of which only Exodus, Ultima III was released in the United Kingdom. Now comes Ultima IV. It is sixteen times larger than its predecessor and contains some superb new features as well as enhanced combat and magic systems.

The game comes on two double-sided disks together with a number of playing aids. These are a quick reference card, a 32-page history of Britannia, detailing its inhabitants, geography and monsters, etc, a map of Britannia, a 64-page book of Mystic Wisdom which gives notes on the manufacture and use of magic spells and finally, a metal ankh which is an important symbol within the game.

It is worthwhile studying these aids in detail before you load the game in and I would advise making a few notes. To start with, the map is written in runes and needs translating. There are rumours of several uncharted isles, full of evil which do not appear on the map. I also wrote out a list of spells together with their ingredients as I found that it was easier to refer to this rather than the book.

You are out for a country walk one day when you hear a strange noise and see a weird light. After the light goes, you go over to investigate and find an ankh and two books in a stone circle. Picking them up, you hear music and get drawn towards it. Over the hill, there is a renaissance fair that you are certain wasn't there before. The music draws you beyond the fair to an old gypsy caravan which you enter. All these scenes are illustrated in large colourful pictures together with detailed descriptions of the events.

Inside the caravan is an old gypsy woman and a device that looks like an empty abacus. The woman shows you two tarot cards and asks you a question based on their symbolic meaning, which tests your attitude towards, say, valour and duty. For example, you may be told that you are guarding your Lord's tent in battle. The battle is going badly. Do you go and help your friends in battle or do you stay and carry out your orders? When you pick your answer, two marks appear on the top bar of the "abacus". This continues another six times until your character is fully assessed. Depending on the answers you give, so you become a member of one of the eight types of professions. It is important to answer the questions honestly and not try to outwit the computer. This is because your character is monitored throughout the game and if you deviate too much, companions that you persuaded to join you may decide that you are not going to attain your quest and leave you.

There are eight types of profession - fighters, rangers, paladins, mages, druids, bards, tinkers and shepherds. All have differing skills, be it in combat, magical ability or woodlore, etc. Each profession is based in one of the eight cities spread throughout the land. As your party consists of up to eight characters, it is not unreasonable to assume that you will need to persuade one of each of the other seven professions to join you if you are to succeed in your quest.

Your quest itself is more difficult to determine. Avatar means reincarnation or the supreme fulfilment of a principle. You are seeking to become enlightened in the eight cirtues that you were questioned on by the gypsy. These include valour, spiritualism, truth, compassion and justice. If all this sounds deliberately vague and philosophical, then don't worry - there is an awful lot of destroying evil, battling monsters, exploring dungeons and haunted islands to be done as you pursue your goal following clues and searching for information.

The first thing you notice as you explore the lands of Britannia is that it is very large. You start off next to a town and it is advisable to stay close as you find your bearings. There are six different terrain types to be negotiated ranging from grass, which allows easiest travel, through to mountains which are totally impassable. Marshes are places to be wary of as they give off poisonous gases. The rougher terrain types also slow you down which could be important if you are being pursued by hostile trolls. You can get horses and there is rumoured to be a balloon or similar somewhere in existence. You will also need to learn the art of sailing. Pirates are plentiful and you will need a ship if you are to reach some of the outlying islands. Other means of transport include certain magic spells and the moon gates. These are governed by the two moons Trammel and Felucca, the format controlling the appearance of the gate and the latter the destination. At all times, the display map shows terrain that is in direct line of sight. In other words, you cannot see through walls or mountains.

As well as moving across the ground, you will also have to visit the bowels of the earth. Subterranean dungeons and shrines lie in remote places. You need certain items before you are allowed to enter a shrine. All that is required before you go into a dungeon is a source of light, and a strong heart. From personal experience, they are vicious. Even their names strike terror into the soul - Despise, Destard and Shame. Inside lurks every conceivable sort of monster. The corridors are full of rats, spiders, insects, slime and something called a mimic which likes to sit around dungeons disguised as treasure chests! The rooms are even worse! The first one I entered - a large chamber with a pool - contained four cyclops, three pythons, a giant squid and a sea serpent. And what for? A total of 108 gold pieces in three chests, two of which were trapped.

There are many monsters above ground too. Oros, rogues and skeletons abound. There are evil wizards, trolls, ettins, flying dragons, ghosts and a whole variety of sea monsters.

Not all creatures are hostile though. The civilised world lives in towns, castles, abbeys and the like. Inside the towns are various shops, guilds and inns where you can buy weapons, provisions, services and information, etc. There are also the town's many inhabitants. You should talk to them all for they will give you many clues as to the nature of your quests and how to achieve them. When you talk to someone, you get a brief description of the character and a prompt asks you what you want to know. You can ask the character his name, job or state of health. What further information you get depends on the answers given. For example, in the town of Jhelom I met a grave fighter called Gravnor. Enquiring about his job got the response "I search the dungeons". The key word "dungeon" gives "I seek the red stone." Asking him about the red stone, I discovered that it was found on an altar in Dungeon Destard.

Sometimes the characters ask you a yes/no question about how your quest is going or whether you know a certain bit of information. Again you must answer honestly as lies are noted. Often you get referred to another character or place. For example, a druid in Yew tells you to ask Talford about the whereabouts of the rune of justice. At any stage in a conversation you can ask a character to join you. Most of them will decline your offer but certain people will accept and offer their services so long as you remain true to your ideals.

A useful tip is to go and see the seer Hawkwind in Lord British's castle frequently as he can tell you how you are progressing in the various virtues. The last time I saw him, I was informed that I needed to be a lot more compassionate and consider giving lots of my life blood to the healers. You will need to make copious notes of everything as you go along. By the time I had passed 10,000 moves and done nothing more than visit the eight cities, I had filled a dozen sheets of foolscap with notes and information gleaned from the various inhabitants.

As soon as you are out of the safety of the towns, you are considered fair game by any passing band of orcs etc and you will soon find yourself preparing for battle. You will, of course, have taken the trouble to buy both suitable weapons and armour for your companions. Different professions have different needs. Druids, for example, shun metal and so wear leather armour. They are dab hands with a mace, though, and can use bows effectively. There are magical weapons and armour to be bought but only a select few can use them. They are also costly - 2,500 gold pieces for a magic sword.

When you attack or are attacked by someone, the map shifts to a detailed display of your immediate surroundings showing the positions of each individual member of your party as well as those of your foes. Your characters are controlled independently and you can move them and attack as you see fit. The different combat screens have different terrains within them and you must learn how best to make the most of the conditions. Solid rock at your back gives a considerable feeling of safety. Again, you must decide how best to organise your party. This normally means that those with distance weapons - bows, slings and offensive spells - stay at the back of things whilst the fighters go in for close range stuff.

The enemy fights intelligently. If he is doing badly in battle, he will run away (you can also do this and it is important to note that this is not taken as a sign of cowardice). They will try to manoeuvre you into the best tactical positions where they can gang u on one of your men or hurl their boulders or cast their spells at you. As your party gets stronger and more experienced so the size and strength of the enemy increases. Whilst you are on your own, you may only meet a coupe of orcs, or rogues or the occasional troll. With four in my party, a typical group of attackers would be six orcs, a couple of trolls and a two-headed ettin. Groups of lesser monsters tend to be controlled by a more vicious or intelligent creature such as an evil wizard.

When you kill a monster, you receive a certain number of experience points, e.g. 4 for a python, 6 for an orc, 8 for an ettin and so on. If, over the coourse of your adventures, members of your party gain 100+ experience points, they can go and see Lord British who will promote them to the next higher level. This gives you more hit points and greater magical skills. Of course, you can get wounded in battle, each hit sustained depleting your hit points. If the hit points reach zero, a character dies but can be resurrected by spell or healer. If your entire party dies, you get returned to Lord British's castle and your party reverts to its starting levels and loses most of its equipment. A night in an inn or camping in the wilderness does wonders for your health.

If you kill all the enemy or they run away, they leave a chest behind containing treasure, usually in the form of gold pieces. These chests are frequently trapped with poison, sleep spells, acid, explosives, etc and should be opened by the most dextrous member of the party. Alternatively, you can use a spell to open a chest but this will use up some of your precious reagents and may not be worth it if you only find a few gold pieces at the end.

All the professions with the exception of fighters and shepherds possess some magical ability. How much depends on a character's intelligence and his profession. Wizards, as might be expected, have the greatest potential while a range only has half that potential. There are twenty-six spells to be mastered, but before you can cast any of them, you must have the appropriate reagents and mix them in the correct quantities.

There are six basic reagents, spider silk, ginseng, garlic, sulphurous ash, blood moss and black pearl and these can be readily obtained from any good herb shop. The other two, mandrake and nightshade, are not so easily come by and you must ask discreet questions if you are to find them.

The book of mystic wisdom details the ingredients of most of the spells and gives clues as to the proportions needed. Other clues can be gleaned from talking to sages. When you want to mix the reagents, you are prompted to add of the various ingredients. You are then informed of your success or failure. Watch when you juggle the proportions, it is easy to add too much and you are just wasting your money.

The spells are a varied lot ranging from healing and opening chests through to earthquakes and resurrections. You can fire magic missiles and fireballs and negate the opponents' magic. Some spells are used for travelling or changing levels in a dungeon; others give you protection or added dexterity allowing you to strike two blows to the opponents' one. The enemy also use magic and enjoy creating fields of poison, sleep gas, flame and lightning. These cause all sorts of damage to anyone foolish enouh to try and cross them. Naturally, your quest guarantees that you will have to cross them at some stage...

Most of the game is controlled through a single keystroke entry system. Four keys are used to move you and the alphabetic keys allow you to perform various actions. These are carefully designed to make them easy to remember, O for Open, S for Search, C for Cast, A for Attack, T for Talk, etc. Some commands prompt you further. If you attack someone, the computer wants to know which direction you wish to attack in. The only direct input required is when you are talking to someone, and that is usually only one word.

The display is in four main sections. The main area is the map of your current area. At the top of the map is the position of the two moons, and at the bottom, the wind direction. Top right displays details of your party - usually their names and state of health but also their statistics and inventories when requested. Below that is a small panel showing the amount of food and gold you have and whether any long-lasting spells are active. The bottom right of the screen is for command entry and it also displays the results of your actions.

At the time of writing, I have entered one of the eight dungeons (albeit briefly), found three companions plus to more who will join me when I am more experienced, and just had my first meditation session at one of the hidden shrines (you need a rune to enter and know what the special mantra is). I have a slightly better idea of my quest than I did at the start.

I have yet to find a ship. I need to find a thieves guild, two rare spell components and the rest of my fellow adventurers. Just reading the rules book again, the amount of stuff I have not met is phenomenal and my wife is complaining about the number of times I have been up to 2am playing it.

Quite simply, Ultima IV is the best role-playing game I have seen for any computer. In terms of sheer size and playability, it is tremendous value for money. If you have a disk drive, go and buy a copy immediately. If you don't have a disk drive, go and sell something else and buy one. Then buy a copy of this amazing game.

Ultima IV is available on C64 disk from US Gold and will cost £19.95.

Supernova