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Well, it is hugely atmospheric, there's no denying that. This version adds speech (which doesn't really help, as the characters are just speaking lines you're reading from the screen anyway, but it's a nice thought, and worth it just for the impossibly melodramatic delivery of lines about old,slightly dusty chairs) and the hideously repetitive music shows an understanding of cliched horror with its use of off-key lullabies and chords in descending thirds.

Curiously, despite all the mutant dolls and biomechanical impregnation, the bit that disturbed me the most in this famously icky adventure took place in the local corner shop. The friendly shopkeeper is assiduously polishing the counter, which, when you examine it seems to have been polished for hours on end. Aaarghh.

The problem with Darkseed is that the adventure really isn't all that good. It's small and it's linear. It also involves swinging the pointer around the screen for almost indiscernible objects (the manual claims this is part of the game, but what's the point of making finding and collecting items incredibly tricky? There are scenes in the game that are mindbogglingly picky; where the difference between, say, being told a car is in a run-down condition and getting the game to acknowledge the existence of the boot is measured in pixels; or where a blob on the floor that looks exactly the same as the planking turns out to be a pocket watch) and it insists you solve puzzles on the correct game day otherwise you'll lose.

The player character is really annoying as well - he moves *unbelievably) slowly, and will happily walk right round a desk to reach an object that's already beside him. And you can't interrupt the leisurely animations of him walking up stairs or climbing ladders. Bah.

It's a bravura attempt at something different, and genuinely unsettling in its depiction of a small town harbouring a Sinister Secret, but the game is deeply unsatisfying. Wait for the promised sequel.