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The success of Incentive's Graphic Adventure Creator has resulted in no end of adventure games seeing the light of day. The arguments about whether GAC or The Quill is best for you will undoubtedly rage for ages. In the meantime adventurers can only benefit by their use. Incentive Software has launched the Medallion range of adventures for titles that are written using GAC. The first was Apache Gold and the second, Winter Wonderland, is certainly a good game for the beginner. The puzzles are, on the whole, quite logical and there are plenty of locations to explore and map.

It is also a perfect example of one particular type of adventure writer's ploy - the "go back and get it" stratagem. This means that having started at point A, you have to go to point B to get something you needed at A. You can only then get something at A which is needed at B to enable you to go back to A for something needed at C!

Obviously the variations on this theme are limitless, and in Winter Wonderland a certain amount of patience and a good map are needed to sort out what to give to whom and when. I hope your shoes will stand up to all their walking around. You take the part of an anthropologist who has got wind of a hidden civilization buried deep in the Himalayas. In the rush to reach the friend who has discovered evidence to support this find, you take a risky last leg flight in an old Cessna aircraft. Bad weather intervenes and you are swept into the mountains by a freak snowstorm.

The plane crashes but you get out alive only to find yourself in the middle of a snow-swept plain. Eventually you stumble across the lost civilization, and although you are fascinated by the amazing similarities to the modern world outside, your main aim is to escape and report your find.

The idea of the plot is OK, but its interpretation is a bit dubious - with a hotel receptionist telling you that you were expected, dry Martini on sale in the off license, credit cards, postmen and the odd hang glider all appearing within this long-lost Shangri-La.

The best bet is to forget the plot altogether and just get stuck into solving the adventure. Look on it as a series of interlocking puzzles that you must solve.

Inputs are pretty much limited to verb/noun format, but multiple commands separated by comma, AND or THEN are accepted. The responses to examining many objects is simply "Nothing worth reporting back about" but do not be put off - examining things will pay off.

For all this lack of textual atmosphere, Winter Wonderland is good fun and will keep many adventurers busy for a long time. There are a number of good graphics, and beginners will have plenty to explore and discover. Pictures are drawn to the screen quite quickly but they may be turned off to speed things up by the TEXT command.

Regular use of the SAVE command is to be recommended, as many red herrings will be caught and you will want to return to a known position. If you get stuck, Incentive will send you a hint sheet on receipt of a stamped addressed envelope.