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I have been misguided. I thought Fairlight meant 20 grand's worth of highly desirable musical machinery. Fairlight the game has absolutely nothing to do with this. It is a 3D adventure after the tradition first started by Knight Lore.

However the adventure side of things plays a greater part in Fairlight. The puzzles are a bit more convoluted than working out how to get over a wall or past a spikey hall. It is actually possible to carry bits of furniture about, such as stools and barrels, as well as smaller objects, such as keys and food. There is a limit to the weight you can carry, though, and it is never possible to have more than five objects.

The game is set in a medieval castle and your little man bears a close resemblance to one of the knights of the round table in his little suit of armour. Initially you start in a courtyard where a door leads to stairs that go up to the battlements. Pushing one of the keys on the keyboard enables you to jump up the stairs or on to other objects. The use of the fire button is reserved for fighting. This is a bit of a strange choice as I found myself doing a lot more jumping than fighting.

Once up on the battlements you get your first chance to wield the sword as you have to get past the guard there. Hitting him enough times with your sword will leave just his helmet which it is actually possible for you to pick up. The idea, I guess, is that all the guards could be collected and put away in a room out of your way. Across the battlements you get inside the castle where a flight of stairs leads down and doors lead off to other rooms.

As you walk through the corridors you may find other guards or doors that are locked. Looking in rooms nearby you will probably find a key lying on a table or on a shelf, though it will no doubt be necessary to take on a guard or two before you can get to it. Picking up food from the table and using it boosts your life value which starts at 99 but counts down each time you are attacked by a guard.

As well as the normal guards there are also huge soap bubbles (I'm sure there is a perfectly plausible reason why they should be found in a castle in the dark ages!). These too are not good for the health. 'Mere are also large ogres who put up a pretty stiff fight and ghostly characters who cannot be killed by the sword - though I'm sure the crucifix that is to be found must play a part in their downfall.

To sum up, I would recommend the game even if you don't get great hoots of hi-tech musical hardware in the package.

Another game out of the Knight Lore mould but. with enough interesting differences to make it quite playable, even for someone who already has examples of this type.

This game is certainly nearer to a hybrid arcade/adventure than many that have gone before. Until I found the infinite lives POKE I did find that I was getting killed a bit more often than I would have liked, but having got the hang of it I must say it certainly grows on you. But the graphics are a bit of a disappointment. Mode I doesn't mean you have to make a drab colour choice and it should allow plenty of pixel accurate detail which seems to be a bit lacking in a lot of the objects/characters of the game.

Keys, for instance, are quite pathetic and could be easily missed until you know what you are looking for. However it is the adventure/puzzle element of the game that makes it interesting.

My view of Fairlight was coloured by the hype surrounding its release on the Spectrum. For months before the program was launched there were advertisements claiming that this was the best program ever.

Now I think that it should be expected that software houses blow their own trumpets but in this case I feel it has backfired. I was expecting something mind-blowing and when the program appeared and was merely good I was disappointed.

Looking at Fairlight after seeing Batman didn't help things.

The thing I really hate about Ultimate games is that there are always far too many things to bump into that kill you. Fairlight doesn't quite have the polish of an Ultimate game - being a trifle slower with less sophisticated graphics and problems - but this just makes it that bit easier for a clumsy idiot like me to play.

Fairlight does have a few of the same touches of humour arising out of standing on unlikely objects, and you certainly get a feeling of becoming involved. Yes, arcade adventures have come a long way over the past few years. A year ago Fairlight would have been hailed as a masterpiece but now it is overshadowed by a number of better games more thoroughly programmed. There are adventure games which give more interesting challenges and there are better graphic games too.

This is a mixture of both that a lot of people would find quite satisfying. If the fantasy adventure - where you explore lots of screens - is your preference then Fairlight is for you.