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Could 1987 be the Year of the Dragon? Yes, if Durell's latest game catches on. Thanatos is an arcade adventure involving control of a large green dragon though a series of hazards to complete an important quest.

Usually the dragon is the bad guy in a story. Thanatos the dragon is the good guy and a dragon's gotta do whatta dragons's gotta do, so burning people, breaking into castles, dropping rocks on knights is what must be done. This is turning the works of Jeffrey Archer through ninety degrees (a novel twist), as usually the dragon gets it in the end (or the side or the front). In this game that will happen anyway, unless you're very good.

The game is a sort of dark age defender where the dragon flies left or right across a scrolling landscape. Durell has enlarged the idea so that the landscape is shown in three dimensions with foreground and background objects that move at relative speeds. The dragon is well animated as it flies, flapping its wings and wagging its tail (it's a happy dragon).

Joystick or keyboard control adjust height and speed. The dragon starts on the ground and by walking forward and pushing up with the joystick he can be made to take off, wings flapping. Flying as any executive will tell you, is the only way to travel, walking don't get you anywhere.

However various unpleasant things are encountered on the journey to the dragon's first engagement. Giant bees that fly just behind and sting Thanatos up the bum are a real pain. Then there are the people on the ground chucking rocks and spears. Later on, as progress through the game is made, there are swooping birds, sea serpents that rise from the stretches of water and when flying through caves rocks that fall from the ceiling and spiders that bite.

Each attack makes poor Thanatos's heart beat faster, until after hitting maximum for a few seconds it gives out and Thanatos explodes into a cloud of dust. Rest can restore the heart rate, shown as a beating heart in the lower portion of the screen, but some places are more restful than others.

Thanatos has two weapons with which to defend himself. Breathing fire is one way of getting rid of those annoying pests and the obstructing castle gates. Another way of eliminating pests is to swoop down and snatch them with a well aimed claw or perhaps grab a rock and then bomb them with it. There is only so much fiery breath a dragon can make, so when it runs out a swift about face and race back a few leagues will uncover a witch tied between two stakes.

The hag must have half a hundredweight of nutty slack stuffed up her corset 'cos walking up and eating her is supposed to put a bit of fire in Thanatos's belly. Where there's a witch there's also a knight watchman with a particularly devastating line in lancing. A quick jab in the rear quarters will swiftly end a promising career in damsel distressing.

So, apart from negotiating the perils, the object of the game is to pick up a girl by the name of Eros. She can be found in the first castle. Then carefully, so as not to lose the sixteen pixel high temptress, the second castle must be entered and the spell book retrieved. Apparently there is a third castle with a cauldron and...

It only remains to mention the music. The music is quite good.

As a change from the usual, Thanatos is a successful attempt to make an exciting and playable game. It resembles a shoot-'em-up rather than the normal multiscreen or icon driven games that we usually see for the Amstrad. A good element of strategy is involved. I don't mean you have to think too hard to play it, just that success or failure doesn't hinge on accurate control or fast reflexes, although these help.

My main criticism is that it uses one colour sprites and Mode 1 graphics, so although the game looks good the authors have simulated a Spectrum game on the Amstrad.

Puff the magic dragon may have been cute but Thanatos is more Fierytail than fairytale. And what a change it makes to play the evil dragon.

Thanatos is beautiful, you have to respect the artist who drew him and the programmer who put life into his pixels. Picking up rocks and dropping them is very satisfying but not a particularly good way of killing the men. Still a touch of the garlic breath is just as effective.

If you've always wanted to be a fire-breathing dragon, and who hasn't, then this is for you.

So Durell isn't all hot air. This original game is a little like the Apple/IBM/Commodore/Arcade classic Choplifter. It gives you a real feeling of power as you beat your wings and swoop down on the feeble little men. A quick blast of the fiery breath to dispatch 'em. But watch out for their sharp sticks and stones, they can hurt a dragon.