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Dragon users beware - there are plenty of good adventure games that will land both you and your bank account in desperate straits, as Mike Gerrard discovers

Hard to know where to begin, except maybe with a request to the bank manager (PRAY, BRIBE MANAGER and GROVEL might be useful commands here). There are some unusual commands needed in the adventure starring Bruce Banner as The Incredible Hulk, which is actually called Questprobe. The first is the one needed to turn Bruce into The Hulk... the accompanying leaflet gives you a clue, but if you don't get it, you're told in coded style at the back of the leaflet, though that's about the only hint you'll pick up.

The Scott Adams style is to make 'em tough. Just to uncover a new location can seem like a major achievement. No frills in the opening description where you're faced with: "I'm Bruce Banner, tied hand and foot to a chair... What shall I do?" A pretty desperate situation, but in fact there's more than one way out. Once you're free, you're then faced with the task of escaping from the Dome in which you were imprisoned. As Bruce Banner, you're killed by the rockfall in the tunnel leading out, but as The Hulk, you're tough enough to get through. But, alas, you cannot stay as The Hulk forever, because in certain locations poisonous gasses escape, and these turn you back into Bruce Banner. An example of Adams' deviousness is that in one of the spots where this happens, there's a ring set in the floor. As Bruce Banner you can't move it, so you're just itching to turn into The Hulk and tug it like a ring-pull, but unfortunately the minute you do so, the gasses come along and turn you straight into Bruce Banner again.

The aim of the adventure is basically to collect as many gems as you can find and return them to a set location which you can find by reading the many signs that are helpfully scattered around. A constant running score lets you know how well you're doing, and if you fancy your talents as an adventure-solver then this is definitely one game that will test just how good you think you are.

The one thing I didn't like about Questprobe though, as with so many adventures, is simply the bulky and unattractive Dragon text layout.

For its series, Channel 8 Software has redesigned the character set to come up with a neat little text that looks very attractive on the screen. The whole series follows the same pattern, and if you're not too bothered about the fairly simple graphics, you can either play the 32 version or toggle them on and off in the 64 version by pressing ENTER.

It's rather odd that many software houses stress that adventures should have graphics, and then give uses with the facility for ignoring the graphics - which is what I suspect most adventure players go anyway.

As for Mysterious Adventures, I looked at the latest in the series, Waxworks, but as the accompanying leaflet only gives outlines of the first ten in the range, I can't tell you what the purpose of this one, Number 11, is.

You begin in the leisure lounge of a deserted waxworks decorated with a wooden beam, a public telephone, a slot machine and some seating. One thing you must do in this series is LOOK in every location, which occasionally uncovers new objects, and you must also EXAMINE everything you come across. Go UP from the leisure lounge and you're in part of the waxworks display - there really can't be that many adventures that let you EXAMINE JACQUES COUSTEAU.

I like the idea of the maze in the Hall of Mirrors, where you can't see which way is out, and this leads to one or two new locations, such as an airlock to a large aquarium tank: "I can see Jaws IV - oh! oh!". How can we get Jacques Cousteau t help us out of this one? Some people do find this series rather simple, and it is certainly not for those who like their location descriptions to be more than just "I'm in leisure lounge", but they all have brain-teasing and have sold very well on other machines.

One of the best-selling adventures that originated on the Dragon, and was subsequently converted for the Spectrum and Oric, was the Ring of Darkness, with Return Of The Ring taking over where the former left off - almost literally. As in the first location, you find Shedir, the ring that you were searching for in the original game. This time, though, you're on a mysterious planet and charged with returning the ring to the Masters of Ringworld, with whom you have somehow lost contact. You don't know why you're on the planet, though you cansense the presence of the Evil Sage... but no Evil Parsley that I could find.

Return begins in similar fashion to the earlier adventure, requiring you to set up your character's name and features, distributing points between Regenerations, Intelligence, Strength and Charisma.

Then it's on with the game, which is divided up into various graphical areas. You begin in a city on a decaying planet, using the arrow keys to move about the maze of streets. You encounter various mutants, to fight or trade with, and there are also several transporters which can ACTIVATE (if you have found the various passes that some of them need) to take you to places such as human town or the Krell village. You explore these in turn, finding tasks and objects and slowly trying to build up your Experience points, as well as finding food to replace your diminishing supply.

The game is different enough from Wintersoft's earlier effort to be satisfying, presenting the same challenge of strategy and adventuring mixed. If you liked The Ring Of Darkness, which many evidently did, then you'll enojy this, but if you didn't sample that game you can still plunge straight into Return Of The Ring. So have a good plunge, whichever adventure you plump for.