There has been a dearth of new adventures lately especially in the "Hack and Slash" genre. It's all very well having clever puzzles but the Dragon and I are tired of playing Mr. Nice Guy, we want to kill somebody! Luckily along has come The Ket Trilogy.

This is a compendium of three adventures in one packet suitable for the BBC and Electron. This is a traditional mix of wizards, orcs and goblins who are all spoiling for a fight. Unjustly condemned for a murder you did not commit, you have been offered the chance of escaping the hangman's noose by undertaking a perilous quest. Naturally you accept! Your task is to travel beyond the mountains and then underground via Vran's Temple to the ultimate confrontation with Vran himself, penetrating his inner sanctum, beyond the Guardians of the Gates....

One reason why these games have such a traditional feel to them is because they are old Spectrum games which first saw the light of day some years ago. The split mode 6 screen, limited text description and two word entry commands is old hat. And a big surprise - the programs are written in Basic - a fact I found out the hard way.

Try typing MOVE PANELS in the panelled corridor and you will receive the merry reply, "No such variable at line 4720" and the program will crash.

Dungeonmaster 1 : Incentive 0.

I was prepared to abandon the games at this point as the limited vocabulary and descriptions seemed so old fashioned but I must confess I found the more I played the more engrossed I became. Dungeonmaster 1 Incentive 1.

This trilogy was extremely popular when first launched and as I recall was the subject of a large competition. The reason is that the games do contain some very neat puzzles which draw you onwards and hold your interest. There is some unconscious humour in that the game prompts with "What shall WE do now" but when things get tough, its a case of you are dead!

Your PROWESS, LUCK and ENERGY totals are displayed to show you when you should choose discretion on approaching some bloodthirsty goblin. There are the inevitable bottles of Strength Potion, suits of Armour and a wealth of weapons for dealing out death and destruction. A small amount of help is built in but - this as usual is as confusing as the puzzle you are trying to solve. Each of the games may be played completely separately which means you have three chances to become hopelessly stuck instead of the usual one!

Within the confines of Basic these games are as good as they can he and when you remember you are getting three for the price of one they are probably a fair buy. Adventures on the BBC have moved on since Ket was created but it still has the power to grab the imagination and drag you wide-eyed into its dark places.

Dungeonmaster 1 : Incentive 2.

Whilst on the subject of Incentive Software I should mention that they are now offering a Graphic Adventure Creator handbook. For £1.25 they will send you a small book containing additional hints and tips to enable you to get the best out of your G.A.C.