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This is the second in the "Way Of The Tiger" series. It's not a straight martial-arts game but an arcade adventure composed of over 300 screens.

The action takes place in a castle keep and its surrounding grounds. You have to complete a number of tasks and overcome many nasty obstacles.

The keep and grounds are drawn in pleasing shades of green, grey and brown. The scenes scroll smoothly and quickly as your ninja character walks around them. It's not all scrolling: the game seems to be divided so that at some points on the map you suddenly flick a screen before returning to the scrolling. The whole thing looks good, with brighter colours occasionally thrown in to round it off.

You start off in the grounds near the keep. The first task is to get inside. You'll need keys - search thoroughly. Keys are very important; use them carefully because they're in limited supply and are lost if you accidentally drop them down a hole. A good few games will be needed to map out which doors you need to unlock to reveal more crucial areas.

On your travels around the keep and its grounds you'll encounter two basic types of danger: creatures that roam in certain areas and home in on you when you appear near them, and nasty pointed sticks that come up out of the floor. There are many different types of creature. All of them sap your energy when they get to grips with you.

You have two ways of dealing with them. At long range you can kill them by throwing one of your limited supply of shurikens; close in, you can kick and punch them to death.

Besides keys, you can also find treasure and shurikens lying around to pick up. Other features include the grills and trap-doors leading to the six levels of the keep. There are further objects you'll need for destroying the three guardians of the keep - in a specific order.

Your energy runs out gradually but it can be replenished by calling on the god Kwon. Do so too many times, however, and Kwon gets annoyed, ending the game anyway. If you get careless and don't notice the gauge going down, you may die without replenishing even once.

The graphics are good and give a very nice feel to the game. It proceeds at a very fast pace indeed. It's a great game for the explorers, and will take quite a lot of beating. Yet another very successful game in the new genre of fast-action arcade adventure/exploration games.

Kkkyyaee - off I go to do battle once more, this time to avenge the untimely death of my foster father, Naijishi. Guess who killed him that's right it's Grandmaster Flasher, make that 'of Flame'.

The game reminds me of Druid. The scrolling is much faster, though; I found control a little tricky. Throwing stars or just booting opponents in the head is great fun, and underneath there is a tough and devious plot to solve.

Second level of keep.

All is clear, all is quite - Kha wha ieargh oof - Got him!

P. Excellent multi-colour graphics.
P. Good range of nasty monsters.
P. Fast-paced action.
P. Large playing area to keep you busy.

N. Frustrating when you forget to replenish energy.