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Imagine yourself stuck in a dark house with two American kids for company. These kids would much rather be at the beach or studying physics, but you can't let them go and do what they want 'cos you've got to go and rescue your girlie - she's likely to kill you when she gets out if you haven't done your utmost to save her.

This is Maniac Mansion, first released back in 1987 but still giving you the chance for some great gameplay.

Anyway, that's why you're at this creaking gloomy-looking house taking part in an adventure game. You know the sort of thing you've got yourself into: picking up objects and using them on the most unlikely bits of furniture, discovering rooms and other hidden objects, finding limp lettuces in the fridge and you thinking they could be useful one day so you pick them up and carry them round with you; finding a chainsaw you could use on the mad scientist then finding it's run out of petrol - you know, the usual frustrating thing.

Maniac Mansion's great fun to play - there are plenty of humorous bits that touch on the faintly macabre, like finding yourself locked in a dungeon with nothing but a skeleton for company - and you also get to use your brain a bit as well, when you're trying to solve the puzzles to enable you to solve the main problem.

The animated sequences, over which you have no control, are fun to watch and give you the chance to see how Sandy's bearing up under the strain. They also give you an insight into how the other characters work. Although in appearance the game looks rather primitive, there's enough here to keep your interest and you don't really mind too much about its looks.

Absorbing and gently humorous.

Not exactly at the cutting edge of technology, graphics-wise.