The King's Quest is the second in a series of four adventures by the Solver himself. Knowing that he hasn't even solved the fourth one himself without cheating suggests that the others might not be exactly simple.

After a few loading problems at my end (young Hargrave's probably sending someone round with a large mallet to beat up my cassette player at this moment!) the game will load and run automatically and then you're free to roam the castle mainly at your leisure.

In this program you play the role of Kurgan who is still trying to get home after being helped in Starcrash (the first title in the series) and who has now got himself trapped in a vast castle. Your job is obviously to free this hopeless character, although this is easier said than done.

Your first location is the courtyard from where you can go north, south or along a narrow side passage. Other rooms nearby incude stables, kitchen and library all with their sprinkling of potentially useful objects for you to get hold of.

Then its upwards via a 'magnificent staircase' to a floor of bedrooms and wardrobes. Also on this floor is the tower of Minos which has within it objects like a gold key and brass trumpet, but it rs deceptively easy to get lost in the mists.

The tower of Minos is easily accessible on the Eastern side of the first floor, but your passage to the Western tower is blocked, an inscription on the wall reading 'a noisy flame in reverse' - to progress into the tower simply solve the riddle.

To succeed in this game the art of solving riddles is not the only skill required, but also strategical tactics. For instance there are various violent characters wandering about the castle such as the Mad Cook and the Prince who will frequently come lurching at you. Actions are needed here to decide whether your strength quota is enough for you to defeat the bounder or whether to flee as quickly as possible - although you also lose your possessions. One person who is slightly helpful is the Philosopher, although he also disappears too quickly.

As well as your strength other Ring of Darkness style features are the fact that you need a minimum score and experience level to win, although it has to be stressed that these minimums are not the maximums. Weight is another problem - not the size of your stomach, but how much you are allowed to carry. Some objects naturally weigh more than others, such as the anvil found in the first location which weighs 2000 of a possible 3,000 units, not leaving your hands free to carry much else.

The only problems with the game are the short time you're given for your responses, the 'time passes' message often appearing while you're entering a command; the text has not been redesigned, but this can hardly be called a fault.

Otherwise there's not a lot wrong with this game. One particularly useful feature is the VLIST command which displays on screen all available verbs, thus helping you find the right phase when you know what you want to do but can't find a way to do it. This feature is just one indication of how much time and thought the author has put into this well designed game which is well worth taking a look at.