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Adventures always seem to come in runs. If there's one new Infocom game released, it's a good bet that it's one of a pair. This month sees two icon-driven joystick adventures. But Mindscape's Deja Vu is one thing, whilst Venom, from Mastertronic, cannot even be described as a poor man's budget alternative.

Here's the screen layout. From top left to bottom: location picture top left (and nothing to write home about); then a right-to-left single-line scrolling 'commentary' (for want of a better description); selected word display below that; followed by about five lines of text right across the bottom. To the top right is a two-column set of verb icons, and below that, a set of character icons.

It seems that whoever wrote the program realised at the last minute that not all the necessary verbs would fit on the list, and so it is split into two blocks separated by a SCROLL icon. Each of the displayed verbs can be selected, but operating the SCROLL icon toggles the lower block over to an alternative set replaced by selecting a SCROLL icon that separates the two blocks.

Commands are entered by moving a highlight around with the joystick to select a verb. The highlight then moves into either the character present window, or the main text window, for selection of the object. There is no control over any element in the picture.

The joystick does not give very fine control over movement of the highlight, and most of the time I found I was overshooting my target word. Just when I thought I had mastered the controls, and decided to drink that glass of ale the landlord of the Dancing Drayman was carrying, I found that the game was, after all, virtually unplayable.

GULP is the word I chose, and promisingly the moving banner announced 'consume consume consume' endlessly. But for some obscure reason, GOLD was written into the band below, and all sight of highlight 'cursor' disappeared. After a few minutes' furious button-pressing, I finally wrested control back from the computer, but still remain doubtful as to how I did it.

The plot is one of those 'overthrow the evil one' sagas, in a boringly timeless setting somewhere between the days of Greek mythology and the Middle Ages. If you buy the game and want to read up the background, then make sure you have a magnifying glass, as unlike the list of 'other great Mastertronic games...' on the back page of the inlay, the actual instructions are eyesight-destroying minute. But who cares about instructions when there's all those other great Mastertronic games to read about...