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Harrison Ford doesn't need the money, so he's not making Indy IV. LucasFilm and US Gold certainly wouldn't mind the money, so they've gone ahead with the game as if it were a mega film-licence. But our soft-hatted, dewy-eyed James Leach is forced to ask, "Is it as good as a really good thing?"

The first thing you get to see when you load up Indy IV is a sort of cartoon strip. Nine frames of arty pics, which combine to give you the background to the game. It's a neat movie-ish idea, that's for sure.

Orichalcum. That's what Indy IV is all about. Orichalcum is a precious metal that glows in the dark, or something. It's also incredibly dangerous, and if you've got steady hands, you could probably make a massive bomb out of it and an old baked bean can.

The other point you need to know is that the year is 1939 (just before the War, though) and every location is crawling with Nazis. Traditionally, Nazis have always been interested in blowing things up, so when they heard about the Orichalcum, they came tooling over like eager, hyperactive bees round a particularly luscious honeypot.

Of course, the Nazis nick the Orichalcum. They also pinch a little statue thing that happens to be sitting around. Then they all disappear off to Atlantis in a cloud of dust and evil German cackling.

It's left to Indy and his latest chum, Sophia Hapgood, to sort the whole thing out, Luckily, Sophia is an expert on Orichalcum [despite being a weedy girl - Roger]. So it's your privilege to control both Sophia and Indy in their quest for Atlantis. You do this by swapping between them at intervals. The person you're not controlling seems to freeze and cannot be harmed in the meantime.

Everything in the game is viewed from a 3D perspective. To move around, you simply rotate the character to one of the four possible directions you want to go, then push forwards on the joystick. Sounds simple, but it actually takes some getting used to. For ages I found myself tugging the joystick in the direction I wanted to move, rather than turning the person to face that direction by moving the joystick sideways, then walking forwards (if you see what I mean).

In fact, I still think that the movement is a bit awkward. It's dead annoying when a Nazi comes up to you and picks a fight, because you can't just turn away (the computer won't let you while you're in the middle of some combat). So if you'd rather run away than stand and fight, you've got to waggle the stick back and forth like mad to get free of the evil German menace.

Apart from this, the 3D movement works fairly well, although when you walk to the edge of the screen, you have to wait a few seconds before a new bit is drawn on. The same thing happens when going up and down stairs. It's only to be expected, though, from something this complex.

There are nine levels in total (so we're talking about a major multi-load here). The Casino is the first level. Here you wander around and get hassled by lots of Nazis (as well as trying to play roulette and find the odd clue. Bit difficult, this, so we'll skip over it). The Naval Base is next. In an ideal world, you should be looking for a large grey submarine-type object here, but there are so many distractions and Nazis around that, unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way.

Once you're on the sub, you've got to find a bomb. Tsk. It never rains but it blimmin' well pours, eh readers?

Okay, so you've found the bomb, disabled it and are chugging gently out to some rather pretty islands on the distant horizon. You've got to choose the right island though, else you'll just be wandering around wasting time.

And, as if by magic, you reach Atlantis. As you might expect, Atlantis is the final level. Lots to see and do here as you fight (yes more) evil Nazis. You've got a nasty time limit to beat as well. The seconds are counting down dramatically towards the ultimate final destruction of Atlantis. So, er, get out as quickly as you can. That would seem to be the best move.

Indy And the Fate Of Atlantis is not a small game. That much is pretty obvious. Each level seems to be packed with objects, obstacles, evil Nazis and chocolate. It appears that old Indy has a bit of a sweet tooth. He thrives on chocolate. In fact, the chocolate he eats helps restore his ailing health and rot his teeth, because when he's been fighting evil Nazis, his health bar gets depleted (owing to their punches, kicks and thumps). So a large block of Galaxy or Milky Way gets him right back up to full strength.

Obviously, you need to collect other tools to help get through each level. Guns, Orichalcum and other bits must be found before you can get any further. Many are obvious, only because they're huge items which don't occur anywhere else on the level. So there's a lot of incredibly fiendish puzzling, as well as some not-quite-so-fiendish exploring to do.

The graphics are very impressive. Indy IV oozes quality (as you might expect from a LucasFilm production. I mean they're not exactly known for skimping on things, are they?). Anyway, you can view the 3D from various points, like Ant Attack on last month's cover cassette, and everything seems to be finished with a high gloss. Even after playing for ages, I still don't like that movement system, though.

Everything is pretty fast, as well. There is the odd delay when you swap screens, and there's a fair bit of disk/cassette accessing too. But it's the sort of game that has to load tons of stuff in, so you can forgive it (especially if you're young and can afford loads of time to sit and wait for your C64 to munge away at its data).

Overall, Indy IV isn't quite worth a Corker. It's a bit too tough and daunting. You can easily get lost, and half the time it difficult to know where you're supposed to be heading. Combine this with the icky movement system (which requires you to have a decent joystick, in my opinion), and you are talking frustration on a pretty large level. But persevere, and it improves as you get the hang of it. There's a lot to see and do, and once you get into the swing, it's as big and exciting as the films themselves are.

1. Rather finicky movement system.
2. A lot of multi-loading and computer processing time slows things up.

1. Well thought-out 3D system.
2. The levels are big and great fun to explore.
3. Having both Sophia and Indy under your control is a challenge, and a lot of fun.
4. Excellent intro sequence really gives you the Indy flavour, and sets the plot.
5. You can swap the 'camera' angle to see what's going on more clearly.
6. The other characters chase you, rather than follow a pre-programmed path.
7. There's a fair bit of puzzling to do as well.