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Conan the Barbarian is given a new lease of life by US Gold's Americana label. Ignoring the wimpish Conan graphic, it's a challenging platform game which relies on keeping your wits about you rather than blasting your way through. The early screens are fairly simple to complete with a lack of challenges.

Starting off in a castle, it is a fairly simple task to get Conan to the top of the building using the ladders and platforms because the only problem is a lone bat which can soon be eliminated with a throw of a sword. This leaves the only other problem, a jump at the top of the castle, for you to overcome. This is a case of finding the correct point to take off from and if you fail it doesn't really matter because youo don't lose a life, you just climb back up and try again.

The next challenge is the forest which is also fairly easy to negotiate and the game only really takes off on screen three, the lava pit. A jewel at the top of the screen must be collected by teleporting up. The teleport only appears occasionally, and there are two creatures shuffling back and forth in and out of the machine. If you avoid them and reach the gem you can gain an extra life by jumping and touching a bird, the avian ally.

Teleporting back down, you have to reach the gem holder, avoiding a scuttling scorpion, so that a bubble is released from the lava pit below. Leaping into the bubble, Conan is carried higher and higher and must jump just before the bubble bursts so that he reaches the far side of the pit.

Now things really get difficult. As you enter a cavern of falling platforms and water spouts, jellyfish-like leapers hop around the screen. Occasionally, a sword will appear which will add to your reserve if you reach it in time but the event Conan is waiting for is the appearance of a gem. This must be taken to one of the two gem holders and then Conan must return for the second gem which will release the key for entry to the next screen.

As the action gets hotter still, fire-breathing dragons appear and, as level leads to level, all manner of dangers must be faced if Conan is finally to face the villainous Volta and win the game.

Although the graphics are crude by modern standards, ths game still has that addictive quality missing from quite a few of today's sophisticated games. The game is only available on disk and, at £4.99, is worth the risk.