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Arcade adventures show no signs of losing their popularity and we have managed to sneak a look at a pre-production version of Warehouse, a new game programmed by Pillar Graphics.

You are Fred, storekeeper to Big Alf, the Interstellar Trader. The stores have recently been moved to Tymorg but this has left a backlog and six irate customers.

Keeping alive the belief that the customer is always right - whoever said that did not work in the retail trade - your task is hampered by the fact that the warehouse is crawling with lots of nasties and littered with tricks and traps. Added to this you don't know what you're looking for.

Like other games of this ilk, you have to search a maze for certain items. The screen doesn't scroll, but instead flicks rather quickly from one room to another.

Controls are left, right, up, down and fire - yes, your thoughtful employers don't leave you completely defenceless. You can carry three items at once and, apart from the goods, there are other items you will need to complete your task.

Your first challenge, sorry, customer, is a writer and for him you need to find - hint, hint! - a notebook and some ink, When you find them, take them to the office and put them on a conveyer belt.

Monsters emerge on every screen from a portal - does the Department of Health know about these? - but a quick blast will close it for good, if you can get to it. Help is provided by Portal Blasters, extra ammo, transporter keys, alien freeze devices and other handy bits and pieces which you collect on the way.

You get five lives, which is considerably better than two verbal warnings and one written one, but when you're reincarnated - oh no! Not another warehouse assistant! - you find you're in a different part of the warehouse.

There are four different starting points in all, which gives you a bigger overall picture of the maze than if you were plonked back at screen one every time.

The sprites are big and chunky and movement is smooth, though you do seem to get zapped by the baddies a little before they actually touch you, which I resented.

Also, it was rather frustrating to find that you can't move and fire at the same time. So to attack a portal with all guns blazing, to knock out emerging aliens, requires some dexterous key manipulation. Otherwise movement is well controlled.

Your other customers include a priest, a lockmaker, a mechanic and an assassin. A word of warning - the warehouse is also the headquarters of Zorg, the most wanted man in the universe.

Warehouse is not going to do the reputation of the MSC, YTS or JTS any good at all. You don't even get any money, just a place in the Hall of Fame - when you're dead. But it's fun while you're alive!

Now, where do they keep the ammo?

Ian Waugh