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A whole bunch of despicable Draconians are overrunning the land. Armies sweep down from the north and capture a fortress (Pax Tharkas) far to the south. Between the two lies the forest dwelling of the equally absurdly named Qualinesti elves, whose very existence is now threatened. You control the original seven-member party from the Dragonlance AD&D adventures and must thwart the evil plan of the Draconian forces. To do this, you have to break into the fortress and rescue slaves from there. Naturally, you will be called upon to kill countless socially unacceptable monsters in the process.

The game comes on a double-sided disk (on which you can save up to two games) supported by a manual containing plenty of the old AD&D info. Cast all that aside: you don't need it.

You turn up in the middle of all this chaos, not having much of a clue where you are. Your party wanders around a grim, large scale display, looking for something to do for about thirty seconds, before it's leapt on by a horde of even blood-thirstier psychopaths than yourselves. Start the game again. Avoiding the monsters this time, you find caches of weapons and other useful items scattered across the countryside. Not all of the creatures encountered are hostile. Nay, some of them are friendly, "Hail, well met!" types who can either impart useful info or join the party (more Trollfodder). Sooner or later, you have to get inside the fortress of Pax Tharkas and you'll be lucky to succeed alone.

Never mind, whip your broadswords and wield 'em in the direction of anything green. Inside Pax Tharkas there's a whole lotta killin' goin' on. You fight (and move around the castle) on a combat screen, displaying your lead character in profile. All the monsters are recognizably displayed but the animation is gormless and the backdrops don't fare much better. Most of the monsters are tougher than even your best fighters (don't forget, in these games you have some characters who are better at fighting and others who are better at using magic). Only one character can fight at a time. So at some point during virtually every fight you're going to want to change the lead character. You can do this (and many other things besides) by calling up a menu system which allows you to swap characters around, cast spells, heal members of the party, save the game and gives you access to a host of other options.

Dragons Of Flame, though, lacks the speed of a good arcade adventure and the depth of a role-playing game. So where does that leave it? Out in the wilderness.

1. Plenty of nasties to waste.
2. Colourful Quest Map scrolls smoothly.
3. Character portraits - you can actually tell who is who!
4. Versatile save game option.
5. Well written and decently illustrated AD&D information.
6. A good menu system allows you to customize your characters at any point throughout the game.
7. Lots of spells to choose from.
8. Challenging - not the easiest hack 'n slay ever.

1. Dull graphics, sluggish scrolling and a screen that's too cramped to start with.
2. Stilted gameplay.
3. Way too much time spent accessing the disk.
4. Not enough choice in combat.
5. Limited 'roleplaying' options.
6. Poor documentation.