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The last in the series (we hope)

That Tolkien bloke has got a lot to answer for. I don't know about you, but every time I force myself to load up the latest dull, unimaginative, written-by-numbers FRP I despair - there are just too many of them, and too few of them do anything new with the type. The sorry fact is that these Dungeons And Dragons things (the Eye Of The Beholder series aside) are amongst the worst offenders too - they've got the name and the official licence and the real D&D rules, and that's enough to ensure that people will still buy these, despite the fact that they're amongst the sloppiest around.

This one's a case in point. Look up dull in the OED and you almost expect the definition to tell you to check out computer role-playing. When it's done well - as in Legend or Eye Of The Beholder II, also reviewed this issue - it's great, but the rest of the time, oh dear. Let's take a closer look at some of the elements that make this so boring.

1. The plot is so thing it makes Lena Zavaroni look like Mike McShane. A band of heroes (who you can create afresh, import from previous AD&D games or use the ones supplied with the program) arrive in the city of Phian, where their adventures began all those prequels ago, to find that the evil Lord Blane is trying to spread his wicked influence. This time he has the use of 'Pools' that let him jump around dimensions. You have to stop him taking control of, well, everywhere. There are a host of new monsters to meet, and allies to seek out, and that's about it. Original or what? (Hint: It's "or what".)

2. The graphics display can give four views: area, which is like an overhead map; 3D (used in the very loosest form of the term), which gives you a very rough view of what your characters can see immediately in front; 'lavish' artistic impressions of non-player characters, places and events; and combat view, for when you indulge in a bit of rough and tumble. All are bog standard at best; at worst they are as confusing as hell

3. Combat often looks a complete mess - I defy anyone to be able to work out what's happening! Aside from the appalling graphics, the information about who hit who and inflicted what damage flashes up so quickly it's unreadable.

4. You have to keep referring to the manual all the time. This is a pet hate of mine - it totally destroys the game's atmosphere.

5. The game is controlled by a series of menus, sub-menus and sub-sub-menus. It's all pretty cumbersome and time consuming, and not very intuitive.

6. One of the most annoying omissions of the game, however, is that you can't talk to the other characters. When you meet one of them they might tell you something interesting, but you can't actually engage in a "proper" conversation with them, which goes completely against the spirit of role playing.

The basic point, then, is that this is a dull game, made almost completely worthless by the fact that there are so many similar RPGs around, and a good number of them are much, much better.

The word 'slow' takes on a new definition - a next-to-useless bog-standard RPG. Could put newcomers off for life.