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She's missing! Some fiend has kidnapped Elvira from her own spooky studios. And which dweeb is both stupid and lovesick enough to go looking for her? Enter James Leach, with a mission...

You'd think that Elvira would be able to handle herself, wouldn't you? I mean, she's five foot eight (but over seven foot with heels and hair), she's Mistress of the Dark and she's got a couple of concealed weapons too. Who's going to kidnap her? Well that's what you've got to find out.

The control system in Elvira II is similar to the one in the first Elvira game (reviewed at 84% in CF8). You see what's directly in front of you, and you can swivel in the four directions of the compass. To move, you just click on where you want to go either on a fairly fiddly icon or in the viewing window itself. Simple (ish).

To the sides of the main viewing window, there are displays telling you loads of other stuff. For example, you've got a sort of heartbeat thing which indicates your nervous state. It's calm at the beginning of the game, but just watch that sucker go after a couple of corpses drop on you unexpectedly from above.

The game is an absolutely massive romp through not one but two huge studios belonging to Elvira. And the reason you're there is because you're her boyfriend (which might be annoying for any girls playing).

Okay. Get your thinking helmets on, because this is going to be a tough nut to crack. Probably the best way to tackle it is to get some squared paper (for mapping), some plain paper (for notes), some tissue paper (for wiping off sweat) and some folding paper with pictures of the Queen on (for bribing MicroValue into telling you how it's done).

You also need a big book. This is to give you something to read while the disk accesses. Yes, that's the price you pay for having such a big adventure. There are four disks, making eight sides, and although they've tried to make the disk swaps as infrequent as possible, there is still a large amount of mungeing going on between many of the locations.

As with all adventures, you can pick things up, examine them, throw them, use them and so on. Here though, you don't have to type any words in. Control is all done with the joystick and a cross-hair. This is a bit slow at first, but you'll pick it up no problem and it'll become second nature. As you wander around the deserted studios, looking for your lass, you should start piecing together the clues that you'll find. The dead guard, the locked doors, the squidgy stuff under the table, the unpleasant smell in the loo. All will become clear.

The thing is, although you're on a film-set, the dangers that lurk there are completely real and totally deadly. It's quite possible to die of shock in the game (hence the heartbeat) so you must be careful. Oh, and if the shocks don't kill you, magical creatures might.

And as you search for the poor girl, you cannot fail to be impressed by the graphics. Elvira Il is a stunning-looking game. There are loads and loads of brilliant locations, all drawn with style and atmosphere. There are even animations. For example, if you throw a stone at a window (bit of a clue there) you actually see it go through, smashing the pane in a most real fashion (not that I break many windows, you understand). Other animations involve bodies, and are too ghastly to describe here; get the game to see them (and be ready with the smelling salts).

If you're not an adventure fan, don't be fooled into thinking that, because there's no typing needed, this might be for you. It's a fully-blown adventure game and no mistake. You'll have to think logically, think hard and then, when that doesn't work, think weirdly. It's not going to be an easy game to beat, especially as it's so huge.

This cuts both ways. If you've got the time, you can really sink your teeth into Elvira 2 (if you know what I mean!). But you'll need patience, both for sorting out the puzzles and for dealing with all the disk accessing. It's a mammoth undertaking.

And once you've beaten it, will you want to go back to it? There will probably be bits you haven't seen, but will you want to spend all that time (and disk swapping) trying to get to them? If you're a fan of wonderful graphics, then you almost certainly will.

1. That disk drive never stops!
2. And cassette users miss out completely.

1. Absolutely stunning graphics. Probably the best ever seen on the C64.
2. The game is twice as large as a really large thing (making it very big indeed).
3. The puzzles and traps are brilliantly thought out.
4. There are some superb animation sequences.
5. You can go anywhere you want. There isn't a rigid game structure in the way.
6. Using the joystick for everything is a great idea.
7. It's easy to get the hang of.
8. Excellent sound effects.