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I can remember with great pleasure playing Apshai on one of the original Commodre Pets so it shows how long in the tooth the series is - me too, for that matter.

Now these three games - Temple Of Apshai, Upper Reaches Of Apshai and Curse Of Ra - have been updated, repackaged and issued by US Gold as a trilogy.

Apshai is a role-playing adventure in which you wander through labyrinths of tunnels and chambers battling monsters and gathering treasure.

The games are very similar to each other, differing only in labyrinth layout and contents.

The screen is divided into two windows. In the right hand window a variety of data is displayed including room number, wounds sustained, fatigue level and weight carried.

It also provides the quantity of healing salves, elixirs and arrows in your possession, the name of the monster you are fighting, battle reports and other messages.

The left hand window gives a graphically simple map of the passageways and chambers in the immediate vicinity. You are represented as a small animated figure which from time to time is accosted by various animated monsters.

There are 20 single-key commands at your disposal. You can move your character various distances, turn 90 degrees to the left or right, and turn about face or rest.

In a fight you can attack, parry, thrust, and fire a normal or magical arrow.

You can also search for traps, examine a wall for a secret door, open a door, pick-up or drop a treasure, listen for or speak to a monster, listen for or speak to a monster, apply a salve or drink an elixir and list your treasures.

Accompanying the package is a quick-reference card and a superbly presented 80 page book which describes every room, monster, trap and treasure in full detail.

It also provides a wealth of background lore and useful gameplay information.

Apshai was the best of its kind in its heyday. Although it now seems simple stuff, being mostly monster bashing, it is still a pretty fair role-playing game and, at the price, a bargain.