Don't Panic

Those of our readers with a long memory (or a large number of grey hairs) may well remember Douglas Adams' classic text adventure game The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, loosely based on the novels, radio drama and TV series of the same name. Now Swedish publisher Pan Interactive have announced that they are teaming up with British developer Digital Village (the brains behind Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic) to create an all-new game of the Guide, which they describe as "an incredibly amusing third person, real-time 3D arcade towel 'em up adventure in the mould of Tomb Raider, Mario 64 and Zelda".

You take on the role of Arthur Dent, rescued by his friend Ford Prefect (who is in fact from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and not, as Arthur had previously believed, Guildford) when the planet Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Along the way you will encounter such bizarre characters as Zaphod Beeblebrox (a man with two heads and an ego to match), the Bug Blatter Beast (the dumbest creature in the universe) and of course Marvin the Paranoid Android.

If it's half as funny as any of the Guide's previous incarnations it should be well worth a look. And while you wait for its release early next year, why not check out the first batch of character renders from the game?