The storm rages around you, your ship is being tossed about on the boiling sea. Make sure you have the volume turned up, for the captain is about to shout: "Take to the lifeboats! We are about to sink!" This is the first synthesised speech I have come across in an adventure. Sadly it's a gimmick and rather metallic, although I suppose anybody's voice would become a bit squeaky if they were about to become shipwrecked!

The narrative introduction, and the voice synthesis to Mystery Voyage sets the scene for your predicament: out of sight of land, you lie parched and naked under a burning sun, on a raft circled by a threatening black fin.

Padding the raft by hand, initially you have no idea of which direction in which to head. But it turns out there are numerous islands dotted about. The sea is not an 'adventure maze', there is logic and pattern to the layout of the islands.

The best method of approach is to map each island individually, and make a separate master map of the sea routes, that way your map will be very manageable and easy to follow. You'll probably have to replay the game quite a few times to build up a complete picture of the objects and information available, before deciding on a strategy to solve the problems.

These are all very different in character, and the most sinister is home to some nasty monsters - including a dead demon whose entrails are being devoured by insects, a very sickening sight indeed, as you'll soon discover.

Most of the problems are not too hard, but the structure of the game makes them a little more difficult to put together, and the game a little more interesting to play than usual.

Mystery Voyage is in three parts, each of which must be completed to continue to the next. Two-word commands are the order of the day, and although the vocabulary leaves a little to be desired, it seems to cover most 'instinctive' words. For example, on coming across a beetle, finding I could not take it, I instinctively tried SQUASH BEETLE, and it worked! Now what I'd want with the squashed beetle I was able to take, I have not yet any idea...

The text descriptions are full of atmosphere, but the replies to commands are sometimes a little cold, such as: YOU MAY NOW INPUT AN INSTRUCTION.

Altogether a pleasing game, that should entertain without being too baffling to enjoy.