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Valhalla is perhaps the most ambitious games program yet released for the Spectrum. Once upon a time we had ordinary text adventures. Then programmers began including graphics to illustrate the various locations. Next, they began improving the traditional two-word mode of communication.

The Hobbit took things a stage further with the introduction of characters which adopted a slightly different role each time the game was played.

Valhalla has all these features, but also shows the various characters on the screen doing the things described in the text. If you enter the command "GET HELMET", you will see the little stick character (which is you) walk across to the helmet.

Similarly, fights between different characters are shown, albeit in somewhat repetitive form.

Although this is extremely impressive, it has meant a sharp reduction in the number of different actions a character can perform. There's little more than moving, getting and dropping objects, eating and drinking, opening chests or cupboards, and attacking. There isn't any climbing, listening, running, shouting or tapping.

This doesn't mean to say Valhalla is simple. It's extremely complex, mainly because there are 36 different characters involved, each with a different personality. The world is that of the Nordic legends, and your task is to locate six special objects - a key, a ring, a shield, a sword, an axe, and a helmet.

There are a number of different locations, each of them shown in colour. Unfortunately, many of the pictures look similar, and I preferred the beautiful line drawings featured in The Hobbit.

I think The Hobbit also scores over Valhalla in the former's handling of language. Certainly Valhalla will accept some reasonably complex sentences such as: "SELL HELMET TO MISTRA FOR 20 CROWNS" or "THROW LIGHTNINGS AT KLEPTO". But The Hobbit was even more impressive in this respect.

However, Valhalla gives more of the impression that it's being played in real time. If you don't do anything, the other characters will - right before your eyes! So you can't afford to wait around for too long.

One word of warning: Valhalla is a difficult, daunting game - perhaps more so than other adventures. But if you're an experienced adventurer (and if you can afford the money) Valhalla will offer you many hours of novel and intriguing challenge.