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The land of Sosaria has had more than its fair share of troubles. Over twenty years ago, the evil wizard of Mondain looked posed to conquer; the story of his destruction is chronicled in Ultima I.

Shortly after, the exiistence of his apprentice, Minax, was revealed and the crusade began again. Younger and more cunning than her master, she proved particularly difficult to conquer. Her destruction in the ending scene of Ultima II was considered the final banishment of evil from the land.

The last twenty years have indeed been quiet, no Balrons, no signs from the west: even the Orcs have disappeared from sight. Continued research into the ruins of Minax's castle revealed someone or something born around the time of her death. Recent upheaval and unrest, especially at sea, suggest that this thing may be still alive. Against this background, you venture into Exodus, the third of the Ultima series.

Other than for a few enlighted Apple and Atari owners, the Ultima series has had little impact in the UK. This is set to change in the near future when Ultima III: Exodus is released in the UK for the Commodore 64 by US Gold as the first of a series called All-American Adventures.

Created by a character known as Lord British, Exodus is a role-playing fantasy adventure unlike any text or graphical adventure I've played before.

The first step before embarking on a journey into Exodus is to create a player disk onto which a roster of twenty adventurers can be stored.

Having copied the flipside of the game disk for this purpose, you can then create the adventurers for your first exploration.

Up to four characters can adventure together, each one created from a choice of five races and eleven professions. Each race and profession has characteristics that make them more suitable for one aspect of the game than another.

For example, an Elfin Cleric would be dexterous, not very wise but able to cast some of the religious spells. A Human Barbarian would be ideally suited to be the heavy man in combat being capable of bearing all weapons and armour but also rather dim. A good combination of adventurers is the key to early success in Exodus - bear in mind the need to fight without the aid of magic early on.

The five races to choose from are Human, Elf, Dwarf, Bobbit (you cn't call them Hobbits without permission from the Tolkien estate) and Fuzzy. Professions are too numerous to mention though I suggest you have a Thief and someone with magic powers in every party.

Having created a party you are then ready to enter the land of Sosaria. Incidentally, if your party does not number four, you'll find many characters on your travels willing to join in your quest.

The above ground continent of Sosaria is massive in itself with lakes, mountains, oceans, castles, cities and towns. Your adventuring group is represented as a single figure on a large four-way scrolling map.

All above ground graphics are white on black, which rather than detract seem to add to the medieval flavour of the game. Entering towns and castles causes a quick whirr from the disk as the new map is loaded.

One novel feature I haven't seen before is that the scrolling map only shows as far as you can see, which means behind mountains and forest is just shown as blackness.

In Exodus it is perfectly easy to be wandering aimlessly, lost in a forest and at the mercy of any other creatures you may meet. A special item that can be peered into gives a full colour view of all surrounding terrain, though it may be some time before you find this item.

Control of your party is by means of single keystrokes, each alphabetical key has a function such as 'C' to cast a spell and S' to attempt to steal something.

At certain points within the game you can enter normal adventure commands such as KISS FROG or GET SPEAR. The non-alphabetical keys to the right of the keyboard are used to actually move your group.

The first thing to do upon entering Sosaria is to wear your armour, then head for the nearest town or city to buy provisions, better weapons and armour.

Towns are mostly harmless, mainly due to large unpleasant-looking guards that patrol them. A disagreement or theft within a town will attract these guards, who then quickly deposit you outside the town.

Withn the town there are weapon shops, armouries, grocery shops, pubs, churches, healers and occasionally oracles, stables and thief's guilds. Talk to everyone within a town and make a special point of going to the pub, buying people drinks and getting to know the barman. As we all know, a lot of gossip circulates in pubs.

One thing you soon learn about towns and cities is that their services are expensive. The only way to replenish your gold is to venture to a far more hostile environment outside.

Here you may meet Orcs, Skeletons, Zombies, Thieves, Giants and numerous other nasties. There are at least thirty known evil creatures and certainly more that are unknown. Combat can take place when two groups are within one square of each other - when this happens, a special combat screen appears. On this new screen each member of the adventure party is shown and controlled separately, as is each monster.

A fighting plan is needed to succeed in combat; I'll leave you to solve the secrets of combat.

If you successfully destroy your foes, a treasure chest will usually be left behind. Within these chests lie gold and many other items of interest. Even after battle, however, your troubles are not over. Many of the chests are trapped. A suitable spell or the services of an experienced thief are needed to disarm the traps. Otherwise, you could be in for a dose of acid, poison, gas or even a bomb.

Most of your party's progress will be on foot. However, horses can be bought or tamed from the wild. Travel on horseback is, of course, much faster.

Although I've never seen one, it is supposed to be possible to hire a ship to explore the lands beyond the continent Sosaria. By far the fastest way to travel is by means of the Moon Gates. Two continually waxing and waning moons called Trammel and Felucca control these gates.

The current state of the moons is shown at the top of the screen. Correct use of the moon gates allows you to teleport to times and areas unknown and uncharted.

So far I've only described the surface terrain of Sosaria; a totally different and more treacherous world lies within the dungeons of this land.

Upon entering a dungeon, the display changes to a full colour 3 maze-like display. These multi-level dungeons are full of traps and pitfalls, strange winds howl through extinguishing all lights and many weird and wonderful monsters roam within.

The underground world of Sosaria is probably comparable in size to the surface. Although I have not explored them, I'm assured there is much more beyond the oceans and in different times.

Exodus is a very challenging game that will probably keep the keenest adventurer engaged for months. Lord British can put you through an awful lot of effort in exchange for just one lousy clue!

In America the Ultima series has something of a cult following. Ultima players are truly fanatical. And they have to be, in order to finish these fiendish games!

It took me almost a year to solve Ultima II so I don't expect to be able to finish this until well into 1986.

Unlike text-based adventures, you don't suffer from being stuck at one particular point. There's always "somewhere else" to explore or another aspect of the two moons to consider. The ending, I am informed, is very spectacular and well worth every minute spent getting there.

The game is, however, not beyond criticism. Two things irritate me when playing Exodus. Firstly, even when highly experienced, you are still attacked by lots of lesser creatures who you can zap without even really trying.

Secondly, although you can save the game at any point, you need to reboot the entire thing to get back to your last save.

Lord British has been labelled the J. R. Tolkien of computer gaming. Certainly, to my mind Exodus with its labyrinth of dungeons, cities, islands, magic and more is an epic comparable to Lord Of The Rings.

I will leave you with one final clue: "Page 147 of the Times book of Astronomy". But don't ask me what it means - I can't figure it out either!

Origin Systems Inc, the American manufacturers of Exodus seem to have taken a leaf out of Infocom's book when packaging this game.

Within the box is a Book of Play, a Book of Amber Runes (Wizards Spells), The Ancient Liturgy of Truth (Clerical Spells), the unfinished map of Sosario printed on cloth as well as the game disk and a quick reference card. I sincerely hope that US Gold cut no corners in packaging the game, as it adds a great deal to its overall appeal.

Up to now, Apple, Atari and IBM owners have been able to buy Exodus for a knockdown price of only £49.95. It was distributed by Softsel. Now lucky Commodore 64 and Atari owners can buy it from US Gold for just £19.95!