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Vampires are a great laugh, aren't they? They're immortal, completely immoral and the owners of a set of choppers the big bad wolf would be proud of. But I can't understand why they bite beautiful young maidens on the neck - it's not what I'd do.

Ahem. but back to the review... deep in the heart of Transylvania stands a castle. It's not just any old castle though, it's the home of Count Duckula, last in a long line of bloodthirsty vampires who for centuries wreaked havoc in the local villages.

The Count held the peasants in the grip of an iron glove, but as in all good B-movies he was staked to death by angry peasants. He can only be brought back to life once every hundred years, and one dark and thundery night saw the hundredth anniversary of his demise. But Igor, his manservant, used tomato ketchup instead of the or motion lotion when bringing him back to life Count Duckula was the result, a vegetarian vampire duck who, at night, turns into a bat and steals your spuds (not quite the same, is it?).

The game starts when Duckula, Nanny and Igor are on one of Castle Duckula's turrets, sampling Nanny's latest home-made potion. This is to celebrate Duckula collecting his first cereal packet top. He's collecting several scullion to send off for a Tremendous Terence Super Hero Helmet, so he can be just like his hero. Meanwhile, Duckula's arch rival, the vampire hunter Von Goosewing, has fixed a rocket to the turret the unfortunate trio are standing on.

The result is Duckula and Co. being launched into space, and straight into an asteroid field. The turret moves vertically up the screen, while asteroids and satellites zoom downward on a collision course.

Nifty navigating is needed to avoid the rogue objects, or if you're feeling violent you could try zapping the asteroids with the turret's lightning conductor. At the end of the level, Duckula's hero Tremendous Terence smashes his spaceship into the turret (worra wally!) causing it to crash-land on a nearby planet.

The turret loses its lightning conductor in the process, so the player must guide Duckula on a search for it. There are plenty of cute denizens trying to whack Duckula over the bonce and turn him into a cuddly little critter. Luckily he can fight back: collecting ketchup bottles means he can spray baddies with red sauce to stun 'em.

Also, by collecting cereal packet tops, Duckula can become like his hero for a short time. The real Tremendous Terence can even be called on to help, a limited number of times.

So grab that lightning conductor and zoom off home, a steaming glass of Nanny's potion is waiting for you, And you may just be able to get your own back on Herr Von Goosewing.

If someone tortures me horribly, I'll admit to watching the TV series a few times (oh all right, it's one of my favourite cartoons). I suspect Duckula II's aimed at a younger audience than me [an old fart who's pushing three decades - Ed]. The first section's easy to complete: after a couple of head-on collisions with the asteroids, I dodged them expertly.

The second part is just as simple, with the only problem in the timing of jumps across moving platforms. There are a lot of teddy bears, toy soldiers, jack-in-the-boxes, etc around, but a quick squirt of the ol' tomato ketchup soon disposes of them.

The younger end of the C64 market should at least consider buying Duckula II but, for seasoned games players, it's a tad too easy.

Oh woe is me! I really wanted to like Duckula, but at the end of the day there's just too little to it.

The asteroid section's great - the animation of the cartoon characters faces next to the score panel is so fluid it could have been digitised from the TV! The platform bit's good too, but once you've finished it, that's it - no more game!

Zeppelin pitched their game at the younger end of the market and succeeded admirably in creating a simple yet playable game. With a couple more sub-games it would've been a steal, but as it stands there's just not enough here to justify splashing out on.

Presentation 50%
This is really nothing out of the ordinary.

Graphics 65%
A tad blocky, but the main characters are recognisable.

Sound 64%
Passable rendition of the TV little tune and spot effects.

Hookability 69%
This game is really, really easy to get into...

Lastability 51%
...but too easy to complete the entire thing!

Overall 55%