The action in Nova takes place many thousands of years in the future. The Sun has reached a point in its life cycle that means that it will begin the transition to a red giant. The initial stages of this process means that our old faithful Sol will go nova!

Earth has been aware of this for many hundreds of years and preparations have been made to transport all living creatures across space to another star system many light years away. The people have all been put into suspended animation and transported to the Moon.

Portions of the Earth have been sectioned off, stocked with wild life and blasted into space. The Earth's remaining core will be towed by enormous tractor beams behind the Moon on a 1000 year journey. On arrival at its destination, it is hoped that everything can be put back together again in more stable surroundings!

Everything appears to be going smoothly, Earth's millions are all in stasis on the Moon. A very small crew of technicians are on Earth, having started the final countdown and about to embark for the control centre on the Moon. Now is the most crucial time for the whole operation - and it is now that disaster strikes.

Thousands of years ago experiments were carried out to try to increase the life span of the human race by replacing parts of the body by biometal constructs. The experiment was a failure and the resulting creatures were paranoid and viciously opposed to mankind. These cyborgs were banished to the moons of Saturn where they have remained until escaping at this most inappropriate time.

You play the Chief Engineer in charge of the party on Earth. Surprised by the cyborgs, you are the only survivor. Although suffering from concussion, you realise the vital task you and your colleagues had to complete - you must get back to the Moon and complete your mission.

First you must gather together what objects you think will be useful and then get aboard the waiting space shuttle for the trip back to the Moon.

Once there, your first job will be to destroy the invading cyborgs. The best way to do this will be with a bomb - but you have to find the necessary parts first.

Having cleaned out the baddies, all that remains is for you to initiate the flight through space. A good afternoon's work if you succeed - or a permanent, terminal rest if you fail.

The basic GAC program has few faults, the most obvious being the limited parser. This can always be masked by good text, so that you are led into typing in the commands the programmer has foreseen.

Nova has been well planned, and although there are one or two commands that may cause a little frustration, its overall atmosphere, good graphics and logical problems make it a good game to play. There are plenty of objects to find, although some are excellent red herrings. There are 70 odd locations and two simple but effective mazes.

There are also a number of ways in which to get yourself killed. Save your game position fairly often, so that you can learn by your mistakes and return quickly for another attempt to outwit the enemy. Read and memorise the opening sequence carefully and if you get stuck for a command, the following may help: PO/PGG NPOPSBJM, TXJUDI PO HMBTIFT, XFBS CSBDMFU and TUBOE PO FMFOBE.

On the other side of the cassette to Nova is a great little adventure called Haunted House. You play the part of an old tramp who has sought refuge for the night in an old house. Once inside, the front door mysteriously slams shut behind him and your task is to get him out alive.

The scenario is straight out of the old fashioned House of Horrors found at most funfairs - anything goes - Dracula, Frankenstein, The Hounds of the Baskervilles, Werewolves, Snakes, a Mummy and even Mr Poets Pendulum.

The number of locations is quite small (less than 30) and there are about 14 objects to find less to use!). Most locations have graphics which are well drawn and help maintain the melodramatic atmosphere.

Although Haunted House is not difficult to solve, it may take you some time to get our poor, frightened tramp out in one piece. The puzzles are of the type where one object has to be taken to the right place to dispose of the creature guarding the next object in the chain.

Now this is all very well and good, and the clues are fairly obvious, but of course there are a couple of snags. You do not know in which order to collect things, but this becomes painfully obvious when you get killed for your ignorance.

Then there is the TORCH. The old tramp has a rather ancient, worn out torch and I suspect he must have fallen asleep with it switched on, because it will only last for about 80 turns. This is just sufficient for you to solve the adventure provided you do not put a foot wrong.

The modus operandi for this game has got to be: solve one section, save position, then solve the next and so on, almost certainly ending with a complete run through when you know exactly what to do and where to go. On the subject of where to go, several locations are not immediately apparent, so when you wander around, check in all directions. and, do not forget why the tramp first entered the house...

Haunted House may have you worried about completing it, but for all its unusual inhabitants your blood should continue running at its normal temperature.