Number three from Hargraves esquire - he's getting as devoted to writing adventures as he is to solving them.

Starcrash wasn't too hard for about the first 74 locations; The Kings Of Jesf wasn't too difficult until all and sundry started attacking you. This latest quest isn't too hard until about the first location (it's a good job the author also supplies solution sheets, although I haven't resorted to them yet - emphasis on yet).

What sets this apart from the previous two games is that here Tanglewood e^quBiY you have not one but four characters to control all of which have their own skills and aptitudes. You can switch between these characters by use of the 'persona' command and each can do such things as eating and sleeping with problems that can require not just one but two of the characters to solve them. The quartet can also split up and go their separate ways by using the command WAIT.

The game begins in the 'Solvers Arms' public house with a landlord caNed Thhyhr (poor chap!). Unfortunately, your characters start getting philosophical and are told to disappear into the night. So off your characters trek with odd articles like a crowbar tucked into a handbag and with four controllable characters you have four times as many hands and pockets.

So out into the world you go onto the A47 (luxurious setting for an adventure) on the 'seemingly endless road to Purley' (and a long and chilly road that one is too - Eof.J with only a police box in sight Now that police box is bound to be useful, isn't it?

After ignoring the first rule of advertising - to examine everything - I eventually managed to find the meeting place by disappearing down a nearby manhole and reappearing in a park.

Lurking in this park is a wall of worms (that's what it says! ) and a row of marching hammers (that's what it says again!). Indeed there is a mad sense of humour apparent throughout the game slightly reminiscent of that old devil The Cricklewood Incident, except that it is harder and more playable.

There are only fifty locations here, less than in the previous two games, although each seems to be unique rather than certain repeated ones as in Starcrash. As the game is more complex though, the reduction in locations is natural.

The VLIST command is here again revealing: 49 commands this time all of which can be entered in three letters, for example TRANSFER = TRA. As with The King's Quest, the game is written in real time and therefore if you ponder too long, 'life passes you by' will flash upon screen. If the pace is too quick, though, you can always HOLD and mop your brow.

There is however no SCORE feature so you can see how little of the game you have managed to complete, especially when you're not sure what you have to discover to end your search.

So that's the third in the series, not as easy to get immersed in as The King's Quest but more complex and challenging, certainly not a game to knock off in a couple of evenings. As for a rating it's probably 4 like The King's Quest, but as I only gave that four dragons, I'll give this five in the hope it will induce you the reader to keep buying software. The next in the series has randomly placed objects, like Madness and the Minotaur. I can't even manage the ones where the objects are static.