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After the build up last month for the Amstrad version of The Bard's Tale, I have still not seen the final product. What I have seen and played is the "almost ready to duplicate" version. Thanks to Electronic Arts, I was able to visit them and get some hands-on experience of their award-winning adventure.

Designed originally for machines with disc drives only, this latest variant will be available on both disc and cassette for all CFCs. Some of the graphics quality has been lost, together with one or two minor options, but the plot and associated puzzles remain as they were.

An additional facility will be included to enable the storing of a very large number of characters which may be mixed and matched to suit your needs, and the objects held by them swapped among themselves.

The Bard's Tale is pure action, with plenty of fighting, tons of interesting objects to find and use and great emphasis on mapping strange locations. The plot is simplistic- Mangar the Dark has taken over the town of Skara Brae and locked it away from the rest of the World by a spell of Eternal Winter, You and your unproven companions must free the city of his evil presence.

Following Mangar came hosts of evil creatures; even in broad daylight it is not safe to walk the streets. Before you can tackle Manger himself, you must first train your group in combat. Only by repeated skirmishes and battles can you increase your party's level of experience.

As experience increases so do the character's hit points and he can then take more damage and fight more dangerous creatures. Only with a strong party dare you enter the more dangerous parts of the town. Needless to say, the clues and talismans to further your cause are to be found in the more dangerous areas.

When you finally confront Mangar you will need to be truly seasoned veterans. This means shedding the blood of literally thousands of evil creatures. May your sword remain sharp and your magic users healthy.

Getting started is a little traumatic. It is all too easy to get badly wounded or killed. Temples will heal your wounds, but the price is never cheap. Until your characters are truly battle tested, never stray far from a temple.

Six characters are supplied within the program, but you may also create your own_ Before you rush off to do so, check what these six have in the way of equipment. It may well be worth "borrowing" some of the more useful items. When you create a new character you must choose its race from human, elf, dwarf, hobbit, half-elf, half-orc or gnome.

You are then given a set of numbers for the character's attributes - strength, dexterity, intelligence, constitution and luck. These are randomly determined, and if you do not like what you are given, you may choose another set.

Next you must decide what class of character you are creating. There are 10, of which only the first eight are available to novice adventurers: Warrior, paladin, rogue, hunter, monk, bard, conjurer, magician, sorcerer and wizard. Each class has different abilities, and as you may only take out six adventurers into Skara Brae, think carefully about your choice.

Initial attributes are important, but especially so in relation to the proposed class-strength to a fighting man, intelligence to a magic user and dexterity, constitution and luck to all of them.

The action takes place in the narrow streets, passageways and buildings of Skara Brae, Only the first three members of your team can directly engage the enemy. The other three can still support them or attack by using magic. Spells are vital to your success Higher level magic users can cast spells that will affect whole groups of creatures. If you are faced by hundreds of foes - it can happen - this is the only way to get out alive.

The Bard is a strange character, having both fighting ability and access to magic via playing an instrument. Singing makes him thirsty and between drinks he can only sing as many songs as he has levels of experience.

This leaves him a pretty weak magic user in the early stages, although his ability to use magic instruments can make him worthwhile.

Your fighters must have a strong constitution to take heavy punishment. They must also have high dexterity so that they can get their blows in as rapidly as possible. There are several types of fighters to choose from, all will serve you well and their special abilities will improve rapidly as their levels rise.

Rogues may be useful but their ability to find and disarm traps may be duplicated by the magic users, and as fighters they are not exactly inspiring.

You always start from the Adventurer's Guild in Main Street and on leaving are facing north. The graphics of the houses along the road are reasonable but the house designs are all the same, so it is very easy to lose your way. Draw maps from the beginning and you will soon know your way around the back streets as though you were born there.

Killing creatures that attack you will add to your experience and your purse. As experience grows you can visit the Review Board in Trumpet Street and if it is high enough you will gain a level. This must be one of your main aims, as an increase in level will give you greater hit and sell points and add to one of your main attributes.

A larger number of hit points will enable you to take more damage and spell points determine the number of spells that may be cast. Spell points slowly dwindle as time passes, although if you can find Roscoe's Energy Emporium you can buy them back - at a price.

The initial stages of Bard's Tale are not easy. Each character is given 100 to 150 gold pieces and you must walk up the road a few paces to Garth's Equipment Shoppe and buy weapons and armour. You will only get fairly rudimentary items with your low budget, but each item of armour will reduce your armour class, which in turn reduces damage sustained in battle.

From the start, money is everything. You need it to buy better equipment, heal your wounds and pay the Review Board for your magic users to learn more spells. Items found on your foes may be sold at Garth's, but it is a touch and go business. You can, of course, cheat a little by creating additional members, pooling their money with one and then deleting the extra characters, Many adventurers have found this is the only way to keep going.

In town streets and buildings you will be attacked by up to eight creatures and as you delve into the sewers, catacombs and castle, the number of assailants will increase. It becomes more and more necessary to have accomplished magic users at your back to cast high level spells. Aim to take out any opposing magic users first, as they can damage your team.

A magic user can start out as conjurer or magician, each with a different range of spells. As they progress, they may change their class to sorcerer or wizard. If a magic user reaches the highest level in each class he is an arch mage. These are much-prized members of your team - aim to get at least one!

Your goal is to defeat the evil Manger in his lair. To do so you must visit all the other special areas to find clues and objects with which to defeat him.

After you have gained a level oi four, attempt exploring the sewers under the Scarlet Sara Tavern. Ask the barman for wine, and keep your fingers crossed. Each level in these special areas is mapped on a 22 x 22 grid. Be warned, they scroll round, if you kept going east, you would come back to where you started.

Map these areas carefully, as you must be certain that you have visited every location. Messages written on the walls or spoken by magic mouths are all vital to your progress. Once you have visited all the levels of the sewers you can consider entering the catacombs beneath the Mad God's Temple. To do so you will need to know the password found in the sewers.

After the catacombs comes the castle. This is guarded by a dragon, and only if you are a strong enough party will you even get one step inside. From there on keep looking, the clues must be fought for, but the final reward is worth the effort.

If you decide to try out another class of character, it may be worth waiting until your present characters, especially magic users, are at a fairly high level. It is then possible to fight battles that will give each member tens of thousands of experience points. It is then a simple matter to raise the useful level of a new character very rapidly indeed.

Commands are given via the keyboard. Most are single key entries, but a four letter code is needed to cast a spell. Regular reference to the instruction will be necessary at first, but you will very quickly be casting MAFLs, ARFIs and DRBRs with gay abandon.

Nasty things can happen on the streets of Skara Brae, so make sure that you regularly take time out to make back-up SAVEs of your characters. It would be a tragedy to lose several levels of experience for the sake of just a few minutes spent making SAVE.

Control of the game is from a series of, easy-to-follow menus but it is well worth using the characters supplied with the game until you are familiar with their use. It would be a pity to lose your own because you are still learning to handle the basics.

If you get really stuck, Electronic Arts Customer Service Department is happy to help on 0753 46465. Also available is a readable clue book, complete with all maps, for £5.