SMARTIES: Sex? You know about that sort of stuff, Flake.

FLAKE: Nah. There's more bump-'n'-grind in the average episode of Take The High Road.

SMARTIES: What about its plot?

MARS BAR: Well, it's not bad. It's no Seven or Blair Witch Project, but it's certainly acceptable by videogame standards. Which, as we know, are still incredibly...

FRUIT PASTILLES: ... 'Kite'?

MARS BAR: Yeah. You play Mike LeRoi who, as his alter-ego Shadowman, can walk the path of Deadside, a realm that exists in parallel with our mortal coil. But there's some funny business with a prophecy, and The Five - a group of evil souls who control Deadside - make their way into the real world. They start killing people left, right and centre and Armageddon is on its way. Unless, however, Mike can find a way to stop them.

SMARTIES: But what's it like to play?

KIT-KAT: Enjoyable, if flawed. For a good idea of how it works, think of Tomb Raider married with Ocarina of Time. And no, Flake, I'm not going to speculate on 'whether Lara gets big Link or not'. Jesus. You never stop, do you? Anyway, Shadowman uses a hub system where new areas become available the further you get and the more powerful you become. There are lots of corridors (a la Tomb Raider), rather than Zelda's bias towards open spaces and rooms, but then it differs from Raider in the sense that it has measured character progression. As you gather more abilities, new areas and secrets open up to you. It's a very Nintendo-like design attribute and it works well.

SMARTIES: What of the puzzles?

KIT-KAT: They're generally limited to the flick-that-switch, go-through-that-entrance variety. More often than not, the challenge is to negotiate your way through mazes in order to find the next Evil Soul. There are 120 to find, and the more you have the more areas you can open. Generally, knowing which way to go next is the real challenge; Shadowman is reticent with clues, and doesn't have a map feature, which is a disappointing oversight.