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Having been sent to prison for carrying out a daring raid on a South Yorkshire mining pit in Wanted: Monty Mole and then escaping to the safety of Europe in Monty On The Run, the intrepid Monty Mole is back - travelling through Europe in search of enough money to purchase Montos, a secluded Greek island.

Like its immediate predecessor, Auf Wiedersehen Monty is a flick-screen platform game in which the player has to guide the mole around a system of screens filled with platforms and ropes. Monty is an athletic little creature and can climb, run and jump - a useful series of actions considering his environment.

Money is acquired in two ways - either by collecting Eurocheques which are scattered throughout the map, or by picking up items and dropping them off in the correct places. For example, the Mona Lisa has to be stolen, a Swiss bank account opened and a car entered into a Grand Prix. Sometimes completing a task involves flying from one part of the map to another, which involves finding an air ticket and an airport.

When Monty's standing at the airport and the Commodore key is pressed, a single cloud-filled screen is shown. Monty appears in a bi-plane and proceeds to follow another similar plave piloted by an Intermole agent. Touching the back of the enemy plane with the propeller destroys it, earning Monty bonus points. Another plane then appears, giving the player another chance to earn points, until the destination is reached.

Throughout his cash-raising quest, Monty is beset by the foul inhabitants of Europe. These horrors aren't like the tourists we've all come to love and adore. This type of European is mean, twisted and mutated, and either floats, patrols or leaps around a screen on a preset course, removing one of Monty's seven lives on contact.

As well as dastardly hosiles, there are deadly plungers which pound up and down randomly, electric platforms which frazzle and strangely coloured waters in which Monty drowns. Just to heap a little more misfortune on Monty's narrow shoulders, some harmless-looking objects are dangerous when collected.

Picking up wine bottles makes the velvety one drunk and he stumbles around randomly under his own steam until he 'sobers up'. Bad news indeed, because during this period he's more than likely to stumble into something deadly and die. Argh!

I'm all for innovation, but there's nothing remotely innovative to be found here. When it boils down to it, Manic Miner offers as much, if not more, playability and innovation than this.

There are more screens and platforms - but the weak gameplay offers nothing new or exciting. The bonus/intermission screen is totally pointless, and represents no challenge whatsoever.

An archaic and exhausted formula with a modern price tag - Auf Wiedersehen Monty - and good riddance.

I hadn't played any of the previous Monty games (yes, I'm the one), so Auf Wiedersehen Monty was relatively fresh to me.

Even so, I can't admit to being overly impressed with it. The solutions to the 'puzzles' are really obscure, and death arrives all too regularly, making it annoying after a while.

I can appreciate the lure it must have for some people, but there seems to be little difference between this version and the last, so why bother?

Try Gods And Heroes instead - it offers a lot more for considerably less.

What's more disappointing is that after a year and a half the only new thing Monty Mole can offer is a little bit of break-dancing.

Auf Wiedersehen Monty isn't much of an improvement over Monty On The Run. It's very slick and polished, but when you get through the gloss you find that the gameplay is virtually identical, the graphics are very similar and the tune, if anything, is a regression.

When Monty On The Run came out in 1985, it stunned us with its amazing music and pretty graphics; this time around a very similar product simply doesn't appeal.

Gone is the urge to solve those incredibly obscure and devious puzzles, gone is the excitement and with it, hopefully, is that damn mole.

Presentation 73%
Generally unexciting with no options to speak of and an unimpressive title screen.

Graphics 68%
Detailed, monochrome characters and colourful backdrops.

Sound 79%
A predictable but listenable tune and simple spot effects and jingles.

Hookability 61%
Initially mildly interesting but frustrating with it.

Lastability 47%
Even platform fanatics may find the action too repetitive and unrewarding.

Value For Money 33%
Far too much for such an ageing concept.

Overall 46%
Nothing new on offer - even the most ardent of Monty fans is likely to be disappointed.