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The world of dungeons and dragons has always been popular with the software industry. The problem is that, until relatively recently, most attempts at creating fantastic worlds populated by elves, dwarves, barbarians and Ford Capri drivers weren't overly popular with ST gamers. With the advent of games like Gauntlet and Dungeon Master, however, the situation changed, and role-playing games became popular with a far larger audience.

Now those popular programmers The Bitmap Brothers, creators of Xenon II, have turned their attention to this genre. The result is Cadaver.

You control a dwarf called Karadoc, who is languishing in a grim dungeon. Karadoc has to explore these dank rooms, overcoming all sorts of problems and picking up goodies such as gold and gems along the way. The dwarf's long term objective is unknown to him (and you) and is only discovered as you explore.

The game is an isometrically presented arcade adventure and you look down obliquely on the dungeon. To control Karadoc you use the joystick and the keyboard rather than the mouse. Movement can be switched between four and eight directions which makes swift movement through the dungeon a lot easier.

Objects can be manipulated by calling up the icon window at the bottom of the screen. This enables you to pick up, use and examine pickaxes, keys and anything else that takes your fancy.

An inventory of what you're carrying can be called up by pressing the space bar and individual items can be examined in greater detail by pressing the Return key. Close examination of items often reveals clues which aren't immediately obvious.

All sorts of ugly creatures live in the dungeon and these can seriously damage your hero's health. In the opening scene a large Loch Ness-type monster rears out of the water and roars at you and throughout the dungeon, maggots, snakes and creepy-crawlies slither, creep and crawl about.

The graphics in Cadaver are excellent. The walls of the dungeon are grey and crumbling and evoke a claustrophobic aura of mysticism and decay. A lot of time has been spent making sure each particular dungeon its own distinctive look. Karadoc in particular is well-drawn, moves fluidly, looks great and is altogether superbly animated.

Sound effects are thoughtfully used and when a creature does make a sound it is entirely in keeping with the way it looks: monsters roar, spiders feel their mouths shut.

Cadaver has a perfectly judged difficulty factor that keeps you hooked on solving the next problem that crops up. The first few screens ease you into the game and provide elementary problems illustrating how to go about solving the game; from then on the going just gets trickier and trickier.

Movement of Karadoc can be annoying when you inadvertently step through doors when only trying to pick up objects nearby, but at least when you do step through them the screen updates are fast.

The Bitmap Brothers have brought life to a tired genre. Cadaver is an immensely playable game stuffed full of dungeons, dragons, dead bodies and dwarves - all the elements those well-adjusted role-players love!