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Following on from Exodus: Ultima III, this is a game of vast dimensions, contained on two double-sided disks. With D&D style, it could almost be described as 'arcade adventure' were it not for the fact that it is not joystick-operated, and no keyboard reaction skills are required.

Honor (you'll have to get used to the American mis-spelling!) compassion, pride, and humility, all play a part in assessing the players' character and assigning his attributes, in the opening sequences of the game. Questions of conflicting interests are asked by a gypsy, who notches up the points on an abacus, as you reply.

Play then proceeds to the Empire of Britannia. The player moves around a map of the Empire by using four direction keys. On entering a town or village, the map becomes a plan, drawn to a much bigger scale. The quest is for the formula for a better life for the subjects of Lord British, the ruler.

The display is arranged with the map in a square box, taking up the full height of the screen. To the right is a text area, showing who is in company with the adventurer, hit points, and state of health. Below this is the scrolling conversation - the key-coded commands are displayed in full.

To entertain you on your arduous journey, there is some quite catchy music of the period, which can be toggled off and on at will.

To start with, there seems little to guide you as to where you should go and what you should do to achieve your objective. But the locals are quite a friendly bunch and will quite often volunteer a useful tip or two if you talk to them.

You'll have to talk to many of them to get very far, as it's necessary to gather together a band of comrades to help you, if your quest is to succeed. So you need to know who's who, and what their capabilities are.

Conversation is about the only activity in which text is typed, and the words allowed are rather limited. However, in addition to free text, there are about twenty other commands, such as OPEN, SEARCH, ATTACK, and so on, that are issued by single keystroke. To help with these, there is a handy quick reference card in the package. The commands are easily learned within a few minutes practice play, and once the technique is mastered, gameplay is very slick.

Not everyone in the game is friendly, though, especially the Orcs, Ghosts and Skeletons who roam the countryside, and will corner you and start attacking with no provocation. This throws you into a combat mode, in which you must dodge and parry, watching, as you do, your strength points diminishing.

Not to worry too much if they dwindle to nothing and you die - Lord British is bountiful, and will do a resurrection job on you, back at his castle!

'Combat mode' is a feature I dread, delaying movement through the plot, and introducing an element of luck and keyboard hammering that I find incredibly boring.

Overall though, Ultima IV is very playable, and has many secrets in store, waiting to be discovered! If the format appeals to you, then you won't be disappointed - it is the best of its genre I have come across.