The great Christmas rush is well and truly rolling. Software houses are falling over themselves to release their wares in time to cajole your festive spirit. Whether you're an Adventure purist or the occasional joystick grappler, the choice is so wide that you're sure to be tempted to take the can opened to your money box. Here's a book at some of the best software on offer...

A new title from Level 9 is always reckoned to be an Event, and Pete Austin groupies won't find anything to disappoint them in Return To Eden - which also marks Level 9's first graphic offering. I'm still not sure whether pictures actually improve my enjoyment of an adventure - but this title's visual appeal makes a convincing case for them. Return To Eden features nearly 250 locations (I'm told!) and those I did manage to explore were interestingly and quickly drawn.

The storyline features unisexual hero Kim Kimberley who, fresh from scoring 110% in Snowball, finds him/herself trying to beat a phony murder rap in downtown robotsville - and judging by what happened to me after my first wrong move, it sure is no place to take Strawberry Shortcake.

You'll encounter stacks of original, absorbing puzzles begging for logical and/or inspired solutions, but the truly confounded (or just simple cheats like me) can write to Level 9 for a free sanity-saving clue sheet. Hock your lazerlance and buy a copy at £9.90.

The game Level 9 team are behind The Saga Of Erik The Viking - this time on the Mosaic label - which takes its title and inspiration from Terry Jones' children's story - but don't get the impression that it's pitched only towards the younger player. Some 200 graphic locations await your attention, and very clear playing instructions and helpful extracts from the book will soon get you on your way.

Incidentally, the overall packaging and presentation of this as of Mosaic's other titles sets an excellent example; the substantial library case even includes a spare parking space for the blank cassette you'll use to store any SAVEd versions of the game.

The two other new titles from Mosaic are The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World, based on Harry Harrison's classic time-juggling novel of the early 70s (you even get a free copy of the paperback as a source of some clues) and The Nomad Of Time, developed from the Oswald Bastable stories of Michael Moorcock. They're both illustrated text adventures coded by Shards (of Pettigrew Chronicles fame), which ensures an above-average quality of program. All three titles are fastload and cost £9.95 each.

Is your enjoyment of graphic adventures spoilt by the dreaded raster rogue; that distracting shimmering along the bottom edge of the hi-res picture where it meets the rest of the screen? It's sometimes possible to iron out this quirk in your own programs, but it remains as an all-too-evident feature of even many top titles.

Here's a very Heath Robinson but effective way of overcoming it. From a roll of black vinyl, self adhesive insulation tape cut a strip about 1.4 wide and of a length equal to the width of your TV screen, and then simply stick it down over the 'shimmer line'. You can use instead masking tape coloured black with a felt pen. Not exactly high tech, but it will give your eyes a break.

Sometimes it's just impossible to pigeon-hole a program; is System 15000 an adventure, a strategy game, or a simulation? Actually, it's none of these and all of them. And if you think that's confusing, you should hear about its history. System 15000 was first marketed under the Ferranti & Craig banner, but changes there meant that it never really got off the ground. But now David Giles and Richard Craig have relaunched System 15000 through Craig Communications (look for the "2nd Edition" flash on the packaging) and have made some improvements on the way.

System 15000 lets you play the part of a computer-bound investigator who's out to track down an embezzled $1,500,000; at the very least, you'll find yourself up against organized crime. Craig call it both a real-time communication game and a simulation of computer hacking; that it's difficult to label is because System 15000 is quite unique, but I've a feeling that it could start a trend.

My initial attempts have thrown up some crisp and unusual screen responses with excellent sound effects (a rarity in C64 adventures, despite its unsurpassed potential to produce them!). So far, I've not sniffed out so much as a forged luncheon voucher, and I suspect that System 15000 will keep me guessing and entertained long after my interest in some more conventional adventures has withered.

Not that you'd think so to look at its packaging, because System 15000 doesn't do itself any favours when it comes to counter appeal.. A game that's so different and hard to describe needs to sound all the bells and whistles it can; the existing dull and uninspiring presentation desperately needs rethinking if System 15000 is to get the attention it no doubt merits. Price is £12.95 on fastload cassette for the C64.

You've got to hand it to Melbourne House for offering the broadest choice of adventures - ranging from the very playable Classic Adventure (fastload, £6.95) - their full text implementation of the one that started it all - to the visually entertaining but not so undemanding Zim Sala Bim (fastload, £9.95). This animated romp through the land of 1001 OPEC members on a bid to defeat the murderous Sultan really is a lot of fun, and pulls off some nice tricks with 3D scrolling, although my copy exhibited a tendency for the text colouring to degrade when I entered a wrong response. Clear and complete instructions. Not exactly my goblet of goat's milk but the youngsters will love it.

They're also sure to love Cuthbert Enters The Tombs Of Doom from Microdeal. In fact, everyone will. This is what I call a proper arcade adventure; the fastload tape comes in a decent case complete with a colourful booklet full of hints and maps and an enigmatic key.

Cuthbert himself is a cute animated sprite, whom you must guide through the mysteries of more than 200 hi-res locations, avoiding assorted ghouls, fields, homicidal bats, and other minority groups of the kind you'd expect to encounter only in the lobby of the GLC. Simple? Try it - you'll need plenty of strategy and fast thinking. Definitely a superior piece of merchandise, my son - and at a touch under £7, what can I say? Triffic.

Sorcery from Virgin (fastload, £7.95) comes a close second; a race against time, played out on seventeen highly-detailed and colourful screens, to save Stonehenge from the evil Necromancer and his sulphurous cronies. Forget when you've heard about earlier Virgin software (I'm sure they'd like you to); this is good stuff. Initial impressions of Booty, a rollicking arcade adventure with scores of novel screens and as many treasures to find, are also very favourable. It's among the first C64 titles on the new Firebird label from British Telecom. Ever so cheap at £2.50 and not at all nasty. Braingames follow up their first graphic strategy game for the C64, Fame Quest, with Flame Island and Castle Fear (£8.95, disk £12.95). More about these another time.

In the realm of full-blooded arcade action behind the thinnest of adventure veils, ask your micro emporium to run the demo mode of Storm Warrior from Frontrunner (£7.95, disk £9.95) which will give you some idea of the action this packs into five levels of play across twelve screens; it's different and the thunder and lightning are so realistic, they ought to provide a free cover for the budgie cage.

Other new titles expected to hit the streets by Christmas include African Safari from Interdisc (£9.95), another state of the art animated text adventure by the author of Zim Sala Bim; a conventional and top pedigree (Jamie Thomson et al) text adventure, Tower Of Despair, from Games Workshop; a two-part graphic challenge, Se-Kaa Of Assiah, from Mastervision (£7.50) as well as C64 versions of The Wrath Of Magra, Black Crystal and Volcanic Dungeon - the reations of the much-lamented Carnell, now under Mastertronic's wing; Swords Of Sorcery, an ambitious animated quest from PSS at £9.95, which you can expand later by adding extra modules; The Secret River and The Wizard's Citadel at £6.95 each from newcomers Triffied Software; an under-wraps title from Virgin based on The Eagle's famous Dan Dare strip.

Finally, if your spouse/companion/kids/rental company insist on reclaiming the TV this holiday, you can still avoid the season of goodwill by burying your mind in a good read. For the sheer joy of mopping up the product of a really imaginative mind, you couldn't do better than dig into Bruce Galloway's definitive guide to Fantasy Wargaming (Patrick Stephens/Thorsen Publishing, 222pgs, £7.95). The first pleasant surprise is that you're actually getting a hardback at that price. The second is that treasure trove of information it contains about creating scenarios and characters, playing rules, combat, magic and spells and almost every other element of the dungeon master's art.

Bruce Galloway's thoroughness is exemplary, and the 60 introductory pages describing medieval society, myths, legend and religion alone are enough to trigger 101 ideas for your own adventures. And that's the strength of this book. It must be almost indispensable if you're a legitimate Dungeons and Dragons player, but if you have half a mind to start writing your own board or computer-based fantasy games, there's absolutely loads in it to help you. I can't believe that anyone will ever produce a better book of this kind; especially good value.

You won't need to cash up quite so many book tokens for your copy of David Estall's paperback Adventures For Your Commodore 64 (Virgin, 128pgs, £2.95) and it'll give you plenty of hours at the keyboard once you get the TV back. Here you'll find listings for six complete games, including School's Out and Hunt The Wumpus for the younger player, to Pearl Diver (with sprites and sound) and The Guardians Of Arimathea - a pretty meaty text adventure that's not half bad. The structure of the individual programs isn't described, but they're obviously open to your own study, and the author adds a useful half-dozen pages on adventure writing for the novice. Altogether an excellent buy for the beginner player/author - and for the more experienced gamer who wants something a little less demanding to go with the white burgundy.