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"Fancy writing another game, Alf?"

"Yeah, why not, Bert. What about?"

"Well, we haven't done a Swords and Sorcery game since Tuesday. 'Ow about one of them?"

"Good idea, Bert. Chuck over the Bumper Boys' Book of Authentic Myths 'n' Legends and let's see who we can find 'Ere's a good one. 'Ow about King Arthur - plenty of fighting an' magic an' runes an stuff like that".

"What, you mean those wrinkly black things me mum gives me for breakfast?"

"No, Bert, runes. You know, joined up writing for fairies."

"Oh yeah. I thought you meant them other - you know - wossnames. Sounds great let's give it a bash."

Thus was born Artura in the house of Gremlin. A mighty game, a game long in the forging, wrought with much cunning and artifice and cloaked with mysticke and magycke and other such flowery words of which you are all by now utterlye piggesycke.

Arthur, who is now covering his tracks and has changed his name to Artura, is a fifth century warlord intent on unifying the warring kingdoms of Britain in order to stem the tide of invaders. To do this he must locate the sacred Treasures of Albion. Only Merdyn, his friend and adviser, knows of their location, and he has vanished. The only possible source of help is Nimue, Merdyn's assistant, who has herself been kidnapped by Morgause, Artura's evil half sister. Now read on.

You decide to rescue Nimue. In order to travel to Morgause's stronghold you must use the mystical wheel of Cerridwen. Once there, you fight your way past her servants, seek out Nimue, recover the rune stones, which will enable you to return to Camelod to locate the Treasures. Simple. Isn't it?

This is one of those games which dumps you in the middle of a situation and leaves you to get on with it with very little assistance from the instructions.

After a certain amount of wandering around it becomes apparent that you are already within Morgause's stronghold - a maze of dark corridors, open courtyards and hidden perils.

You will notice a number of gateways as you explore. Standing within these and selecting up or down with your joystick or keyboard will transport you about the stronghold and enable you to search for Nimue and the runes.

The stronghold is heavily populated by eagles and swordwaving soldiers. These appear to be unusually battle shy, and there is not a great deal of combat. The main dangers are running out of time or falling into one of the rat and spiderinfested pits, from which there is no escape.

Artura is a thought provoking rather than an exciting game, and as such it takes time to appreciate its entertainment value. First impressions are likely to be somewhat negative. It is an attractive game with good graphics, although the sound effects are uninspiring.

If you're looking for something that provides a rush of adrenalin and can be played in five minutes, Artura is not for you. For the more sedate, it has more to offer and is worth checking out.

It has all the blood curdling, thrilla-minute action of Conan the Librarian, absorbing rather than exciting. Artura is a game that grows on you the more you play it.