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One of the most eagerly awaited adventure games of the year arrives on your ST. Rob Mead puts on his leather jerkin and takes a look...

Ishar: Legend Of The Fortress was one of the gaming highlights of last year. French programmers Silmarils conjured up a deeply atmospheric role-playing game which plotted the trials and tribulations of five adventurers and their journey across a mythical land. This Format Gold-winning game also set the scene for an inevitable sequel - and here it is.

Ishar 2: Messengers Of Doom finds the isle of Kendoria enjoying a much deserved peace. The foreboding fortress of Ishar has been transformed into a leading cultural centre and spreads Kendoria's influence beyond its shores to the six other lands.

Things start to terribly wrong, however, when an evil drug syndicate start foisting mind-altering pills on the unsuspecting population, bringing the lands to the brink of anarchy. As Zubaran - Ishar's ruler - it's your job to round up four like-minded adventurers and defeat the syndicate, bringing peace and prosperity to your kingdom once more.

The game drops you in the deep end as soon as you start - you witness a cowardly and brutal attack on a defenceless girl by a gang of thugs. You're powerless to help, so you head north to the nearest village to recruit members of your team and buy much needed equipment. Irvan's Island is an eerie swamp-infested land, filled with vicious lizard men and killer insects. You're given a host of cryptic clues to unravel, once you do, you can escape from the land and set sail for Zach's island, a bustling cityscape filled with houses, taverns and shops. Here you can build up your team's combat experience and discover the many clues, maps and artefacts which are going to help you on your quest.

Ishar 2 is a massive adventure which claims to be three times larger than its predecessor. In addition to the swamp and city worlds of Irvan and Zach, there's a myriad of dungeons and villages to explore, as well as mountains and a Tree City to traverse. Each landscape is filled with its own peculiar inhabitants - zombies, skeletons, giants and pterodactyls, for example - and treacherous pitfalls to overcome. This is one serious game-playing experience.

The key to any role-playing adventure is your ability to mix and match different characters in your team. One of the main features of Ishar 2 is the introduction of complex character psychology. Each perrson you recruit has their own distinct personality and attributes. When you choose your team you have to take racial tensions and personality conflicts into account since these affect a character's willingness to help another when in trouble - an elf may be unwilling to heal a wounded orc, for example. You can even spark off a series of murders within your team by assassinating a well-liked character.

As well as having different personality profiles, your characters also possess a wide variety of skills associated with them - there are warriors, thieves, scholars and magicians who can play a part in the successful outcome of your quest. High level, experienced warriors are crucial in combat situations, for instance, while magicians are useful for creating powerful spells and potions.

Another new feature found in Ishar 2 is its self-mapping facility. This means you no longer have to wander aimlessly around a landscape trying to find clues for your quest. Each island has its own map - accessed via the Action menu bar - which ensures you know exactly where your team is in reation to the total game area. The Action menu also enables you to give first aid to your characters, as well as recruit, dismiss or assassinate them.

If you've never played an adventure game before, Ishar 2 can be a daunting experience. The screen consists of a main game window featuring a 3D landscape, as well as a series of mouse-controlled menus which enable you to arrange your characters and access their individual inventories. After an hour's play, the control system becomes second nature and you're soon belting around each island, slashing baddies and piecing together the puzzling information presented to you.

Although Ishar 2 is stylistically similar to its predecessor, Silmarils have managed to conjure up an entire new universe to immerse yourself in. Highly detailed, realistic graphics combine with atmospheric sound effects to produce a very involving game-playing experience. All the locations in the game - city, mountain or swamp - have a very different feel to them and you can't help but be enthralled by what's going on.

The only drawback is there's a lot of tedious slogging around the islands in the early stages of the game as your characters gather experience points and pick up the various clues lying around. There are also plenty of plot turns and twists as well as sub-adventures for you to get involved in so you don't feel bored for long.

Because Ishar 2 is largely icon and menu-driven, using a keyboard or mouse is your best option - the joystick emulation is not recommended. Gameplay can be a little slow because of the complex 3D graphics and frequent disk accessing. This means gameplay can be a little jerky, although installing the game on a hard drive improves things considerably. One major improvement to the game is the Save Game option - you no longer have to squander your precious gold on saving the game and you can save as many times as you like. You can also import your characters from the first Ishar into your new adventure. This appears to have been included at the expense of the quality of the high res option - the clarity of the mono image is not as good as it was in Ishar 1.

Ishar 2 is a sprawling role-playing adventure which manages to build on the success of its Format Gold-winning predecessor. With eight islands for you to explore, Ishar 2 is an absorbing and atmospheric challenge which is going to keep you at your ST for months. The only drawbacks are the screen refresh rate and constant disk accessing, making gameplay a little slow at times. All in all, this is an adventure which has to be experienced.

Ishar 2 is a massive RPG, packed with atmosphere and playability.

Getting around can get tedious and the game is a little slow.