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Dungeon construction can sometimes have nasty side effects. In this case it resulted in the awakening of Calvrak, a malicious and unbelievably ugly entity that now resides in the labyrinth. The player's task is simply to find and kill him.

At the beginning there are four options: a one or two player game, entry into the construction set, or load a previously saved scenario.

On selecting the former option, the quest begins in the first of 100 dungeons, which are loaded separately. Each one has its own title, offering some clue as to what can be expected; some levels have a specific goal which is achieved in order to descend to the next dungeon.

The screen is divided into two parts: two-thirds shows the multi-directionally scrolling playing area, and the remaining third is an information panel which displays the player's health status and score. Also shown are three icons representing appropriate attributes: a helm (armour), a belt (strength) and a wand (magic power). These decrease over time and increase with the discovery of relics.

On the way to Calvrak's lair, five different kinds of monster are regularly faced, each of which behaves differently. Contact with these is detrimental to the character's health and while monsters and their generators can be destroyed, sewers (from which rats appear) cannot.

After the fourth dungeon, a scrolling message appears giving players more information on the quest. Participants then have the opportunity to increase their health status by answering a question correctly. To progress further they must also solve a puzzle with the help of a cypher included in the packaging.

Demon Stalkers has plenty of variety and atmosphere, but the gameplay is marred by its graphic presentation and pointless sound. The scrolling is irritatingly juddery and the characters are poorly animated and lack definition.

The dungeons are quite varied in design and offer plenty of problems to overcome, and there are different creatures to battle.

The clue-scrolls add a twist to the action, and there's even a screen designer - but you can't really escape the fact that this is very much like the original Gauntlet. Fans of the genre have two choices this month - this and US Gold's Gauntlet II.

The latter is far more polished, offers better playability and costs only four pence more...

However original the scenario, you can't escape the all-encompassing shadow of Gauntlet. Even though the adversaries are different, the actual gameplay is very similar: using keys to open doors, collecting food for energy, destroying monster generators, gathering magical objects to aid your quest and so on.

Demon Stalkers is reasonably well presented, and has more depth for the solo player, but the poor implementation and rather unprofessional graphics do little to endear it.

The scrolling is pretty awful, the sprites are very flickery, and the less enemies there are on-screen the faster the action becomes (single opponents are annoyingly rapid). An average arcade adventure with limited appeal, except to hardened Gauntlet fans in need of some variety.

Presentation 89% Excellent instructions, many useful options and clear on-screen display.

Graphics 57% Varied, but bland backdrops with awful scrolling. Poorly animated monsters and dull main characters.

Sound 41% Few spot effects and the occasional tune.

Hookability 78% Aesthetic considerations apart, the game's variety and instant playability is a great pull.

Lastability 61% 100 levels and the option to construct your own, but some frustrating aspects spoil the action.

Overall 65% An unpolished Gauntlet clone which lacks bite.