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Captain Blood is to the C64 games market what a breath of fresh air is the morning after a beanfeast. The easiest way I can describe it is as an adult space adventure. Now, by the word 'adult' I don't mean that it contains matter that is morally unsuitable. I mean that it's a game that requires a lot of thought, patience and a great deal of time. (Even so, the game is French, so expect a naked lady at some stage.)

From what I gathered of my brief glimpse through the novella accompanying the game, the Captain Blood of the title is some of alien captain who has the gift of immortality, provided he has enough life juice - unfortunately, he's run out. You take control of him 45 hours (real time!!!) before his impending doom and have to find your way around the 32,768 different planets dotted around the galaxy in search of intelligent life forms that may be able to give you clues to the whereabouts of the life force so vitally needed.

The entire game is controlled from the flight deck of the Captain's spacecraft and you are treated to a glorious view of the inside of it. At the bottom of the screen is a row of 'eyes' and each one opens in a specific situation presenting you with an appropriate icon. Yes, the game is icon controlled, but wait till you see the pointer. Look at the screenshot somewhere on this page. See that grisly thin worn bony arm with the gnarled finger at the top? That's it.

From around the flight deck, you can call up various screens. For example, if you have beamed up a creature then you can deposit it on another planet or simply disintegrate it, all at the point of a digit. You can call up an outside view of the planet you're orbiting and then blow it up or send down an Ooorx. [An Ooorx?! - Ed] Yes, an Ooorx. Finally, you can pull up a starmap and select another planet to fly to, but baby this knocks the socks off the galactic maps in Elite.

So, you've got to your planet and you're dying (no pun intended) to get down their and have a closer look. What now? Well, this is where the Ooorx comes in. Described by the authors as (to be read in a disgustingly 'Allo 'Allo mickey-take of a French accent) 'missile-fish'. What it does is descend to the planet in question and fly around in search of life, all under your control. Done rather like a flight simulator, and with some of the fastest vector graphics I've seen on the C64, all the mountains, valleys, canyons etc are portrayed in glorious outline-o-vision, and dead effective it is too.

The life I spoke of earlier is found (if there is any) at the end of a long canyon which every planet has. This has to be found and negotiated whilst avoiding walls and missiles. Some of the planets have defence systems and the only thing you can do when you see a missile coming at you on your scanner is to cut all speed and drop down low until the missile passes.

When you reach the end of the canyon, the Ooorx automatically slows to a halt, and then the computer fills in the vectors, so you end up with a very lunar looking picture. If you're lucky, a being will now pop up and start a conversation. This is where it gets tricky.

As in real life, there's a knack to having a good conversation. The only problem in speaking to an alien is that it probably doesn't understand English, so it's out with the handy translator. As the alien speaks, a row of icons appear at the bottom of the picture, rather like subtitles, and it's by running your finger along these that you decode exactly what the alien is saying. Then, when you've discovered what it wants, answer back by selecting icons from a scrollable display at the bottom of the screen.

One of the things I haven't mentioned yet - since most people will have already spotted it on the screenshots - is just how attractive the game is. From the beautifully defined interior of the ship, to the incredibly effective planets right down to the cute and loveable aliens, there is very little that hasn't been converted directly from the 16-bit versions.

Sound is great too, with atmospheric thrusting noises during hyperspace and the Ooorx flight, not to mention the various grunts and moans emitted by the alien forms.

Definitely one of the closest conversions ever, this is deserving of any C64 owner's attention.

The scenario will be the same as all the other versions, but Infogrames tell us the Amiga version will use the full capacity of the machine by providing more and better sound effects and classier graphics, particularly in the destruction of the planets. It's due for release on October 20th.