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Classic Quests are a company I am unfamiliar with, mainly because most of their adventures have not yet been released in the UK (although I'm told this situation is soon to change). However, one of their games - Witch Hunt - is now available here from all good [Enough of the advertising rubbish - Ed].

Sorry, back to the game... You play the part of Filbur Apse, a person who gets a kick out of upsetting his fellow man. During one of your particularly obnoxious attacks on an innocent passer-by, you discover - to your horror - that the victim is in truth a wizard in disguise. Now we all know wizards are not renowned for their patience, and this one is more than a little upset by your antics. He retaliates by casting a spell on your which has the effect of making you appear to be a nice guy on the outside, while underneath you remain the same obnoxious little Filbur - this may not appear to be a particularly nasty hex, but it does cause more than its fair share of problems.

It transpires that there is only one person who has the power to return you to normal - an old witch by the name of Esmerelda Hawkins... unfortunately, she appears less than keen to help you out (typical of all the witches I've ever met!). On your arrival at her domain, the crone gloatingly informs you that she does not really have time to deal with your trivial problems. However, should you be successful in finding all the necessary ingredients, she just might agree to perform the spell on her return. From here on, your quest is clear.

The game opens at the point where the witch departs, leaving you outside the wooden door of her cottage. The problem of entrance is none too difficult if you can pull a few strings, and once inside many objects are yours for the taking. The arcane law book is most important, containing a list of the ingredients you require for the spell. This is found quite easily, but the same cannot be said of the constituents. The area surrounding the cottage is mostly made up of woods containing differing trees with the odd hilly bit and occasional cave. A certain atmosphere is created by the lengthy location descriptions, although the access points to and from certain places are a little illogical. The adventurers favourite verb is well catered for here with most objects in the descriptive prose being EXAMINEable.

A little more attention to detail would have been nice. For example; trying to get the shopping trolley results in a negative response with the message "I'm not logging(?) that about" and examining the oil produces the reply "I see nothing special about a oil". The lark seems to have poltergeistic powers as you can hear the thing even when you have expired. Thankfully, none of these quirks deter too much from the enjoyment of the game.

The parser is just about adequate - understanding such input as 'Put the apple in the bucket' and 'Throw the newspaper at the toad'. Commands may be linked with a comma, and phrases such as 'Get apple, toad, cap, bottle' are handled easily. 'It' is also understood, although confusion reigns occasionally when a previously typed noun is used in place of the current one.

Saving and restoration of games is carried out either to cassette, disk or Ram, and macros may be created for those inputs which you use most often throughout the game, Inventory, or Look for example. Other useful commands include Brief, Verbose, Quit (which unfortunately resets the computer), Help and Again. There is also an assumed verb function which repeats the previous verb if one is omitted from the current input.

Classic Quests claim that Witch Hunt is only the first release of many, and if the standard is at least matched in future games then the company shouldn't have too many problems. The only major objection I have is the price. £12.95 is very expensive for a single load cassette adventure... perhaps too expensive.