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Saturday morning TV fans will no doubt recognise the heroes of Reaktor's latest offering, Centurions. Ace McCloud, Jake Rockwell and Max Ray are all here, ready to battle the forces of Doc Terror as he attempts to infiltrate the Weapons Development Centre and make off with the World's largest supply of Tyron Dichromate - a chemical used to catalyse the process of Nuclear fusion. Armed with their customised exo-frames, Jake and his team enter the maze-like confines of the complex and begin blasting!

The action is displayed Gauntlet-style, with the Weapons Centre appearing as a large three-level multi-directionally scrolling maze.

A SCOUT droid appears at the start of the mission, transforming into Ace, Jake or Max by walking over the pads marked Land, Sea and Air (in two-player mode, the second droid appears automatically when the Fire button is pressed).

The complex is inhabited by Doc Terror's massed hordes, which are destroyed by blasting. Energy is lost if a hostile touches a hero, with this loss depicted as a diminishing number.

A glowing 'Quant' appears when enough aliens have been despatched, and is picked up to allow our heroes to choose a new weapon. These weapons are represented at the bottom of the screen by the letters A to I, highlighted in rapid succession. Pressing the fire button when the desired selection is lit adds that weapon to the character's exo-frame. Gathering the first system, 'A', provides a random weapon plus extra energy to top up reserves. The weapons have different destructive capabilities, but they all only last for a limited amount of time.

Progress is made from level to level by finding six segments of a master key and using them to unlock the relevant passage. However, smaller keys must be found to open the doors that separate different parts of the labyrinthine complex. Each of the locks is represented by a shape - square, triangular, circular and so on. The corresponding keys are to be found on a plinth surrounded by air, land or sea.

Only the Centurion with the correct ability can cross the elemental 'moat', and therefore you have to change from one character to another in order to retrieve all the keys.

If at any time a character is hit by the face of Doc Terror he is beamed back to headquarters and once again reverts to SCOUT droid form.

I love the opening sequence, but the game itself fails to inspire me to a similar degree. The gameplay simply revolves around the negotiation of huge mazes, blasting the enemy as you go.

The only hurdle is the disappearing energy, but this is no longer a problem once you get the hang of selecting the correct energy replenishing module. Thereafter, there is nothing to stop you from completing the game, except for the fact that the whole complex is fairly large and the mazes are extremely devious.

You find yourself trooping back and forth over the same ground time and time again, changing character and swapping keys. If you're a mapping freak you'll have a field day. If not - look elsewhere.

I must confess to watching Centurions, usually when I'm suffering from the 'nothing else to do on a Saturday morning but sit in bed and watch Get Fresh' syndrome.

Therefore, I feel qualified to say that this officially licensed game bears only a passing resemblance to the cartoon series, lacking most of its action and excitement.

The first level is pretty straightforward, but there's so much to-ing and fro-ing on the two subsequent levels that it becomes frustrating - especially as the sprites move so slowly. A 'save game' option would also have been nice as the game takes hours to complete - and having to sit down for such a length of time is just too much.

It's a shame that this is so, because with a little more thought, Centurions could have been quite neat.

After spending an extremely long time playing Centurions, I never really felt that I had gained any real proficiency at it. The main problem was the inlay, which can hardly be described as informative.

It tells you half of the game's aims, and assumes that you can get past the first few problems without any guidance. Once you've got over this first hurdle, you suddenly find that the gameplay is really very thin.

In fact, most of your time is spent travelling repeatedly (especially in a one-player game) over a dreary and drab landscape looking for one elusive door - not very exhilarating.

The most exciting part of the game seems to be the choosing of weapons after picking up a 'Quant', and even this is far too simplistic to present any kind of long-term interest.

Presentation 79%
Brilliant opening sequence and good documentation, slightly marred by the lack of a game save option.

Graphics 62%
Good use of colour on the backdrops, but the animation is poor and the sprites have little connection to their celluloid counterparts.

Sound 77%
A stirring Ben Daglish soundtrack - unfortunately accompanied by effects which are no more than adequate.

Hookability 60%
Zapping Doc Terror's cronies is simplicity itself.

Lastability 43%
The compulsion to wade through all three levels soon disappears when the enormity of the task ahead becomes apparent.

Overall 53%
An initially entertaining arcade adventure which soon becomes tiresome.