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"Are you the human embodiment of ultimate wisdom? Well, do you think you could muddle through?" We had to ask this of our reviewer when we packed him off to the land of Britannia, courtesy of Origin and Mindscape...

Britannia has had the kind of history that makes the knees of Avatars turn to jelly. (Avatars, for the uninitiated, are the human embodiment of ultimate wisdom, a title which you gained in Ultima IV). First there was dastardly Lord Blackthorn, conspirator in the perversion of all things good and part-time cider merchant. Having sent him packing to the great orchard in the sky, you face a new challenge: in a word, gargoyles.

These underground, unctuous, ugly ungulates are seizing Britannia's places of holiness and enlightenment, applying thumbscrews to innocent villagers, defeating all armies that face them and, worst of all, they're looking for you. With a band of inexperienced revellers, it's your job to find them first and, just possibly, save the world again.

Before you can do all this, there are a few practical considerations. You need three blank disks and some kind of copying device: try as you might, you can't create a new character from the original disks. But once you've generated a hero, via a natty bit of chemical wizardry inside a gypsy's caravan, you're thrust straight into the action: a pair of gargoyles assaults your band as soon as you set foot in Britannia. And it doesn't let up: after you've received details of your mission from Lord British himself, you're free to do as you please.

This means that you can explore an enormous (no exaggeration) landscape, interact with scores of different characters and use a Santa-sized sack of objects along the way - not to mention the spell-casting, combat and puzzle-solving. It's an adventure that's full of surprises and very enjoyable to play.

The major drawback is in presentation, particularly the annoying amount of disk use: it detracts from the atmosphere to have to swap disks every time you want a conversation or to wait every eight paces for a new section of the map to be loaded in. The high price tag is less of a problem: it's justified by the size and amount of detail in the game, and all the freebies you get in the box: an excellent compendium of information about Britannia, a towel-cum-map, and a 'magic' stone that looks like a cross between a Blackcurrant and Liquorice sweet.

It's definitely a game where patience is well rewarded, particularly if you can ignore the presentation drawbacks. For fans of the Ultima series this is the best version yet, largely due to the new, helpful command and control system, but also because of the masses of text and graphics. If you can endure its faults, Ultima VI will grip you until the very end. It's impossible to detail all of its many excellent features in this review, so try it for yourself and see just how good it is.

1. Huge landscape to explore
2. Vast hordes of gargoyles and other creatures to defeat, plus many other characters to encounter
3. Over 50 different spells
4. Customise your companions by allocating attributes
5. An easy-to-use command system
6. Detailed colourful graphics give you atmosphere
7. A beginner's guide to the first few steps is included
8. Excellent documentation
9. Freebies thrown in
10. Clue book available

1. Hassle to start playing, and an annoying amount of disk activity.