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In the Agamen Empire people are dissatisfied by their King, the fifteen-year-old boy Kayus. But rather than calling on Michael Heseltine, they've called on some chappie known as Zambaquous, the King of Darkness. Rather an extreme move, you might think, and Kayus certainly isn't too chuffed. Zambaquous has already made his presence felt by filling the air with miasma which is gradually turning the ground dark and rotten. Kayus sets out to defeat Zambaquous with Bahamoot, the Dragon of Light.

The game begins with Kayus climbing on Bahamoot, a long, sinuous snake-like dragon - its long tail can be swung around to block enemy fire and even destroy creatures. While Kayus is permanently armed with a bow, the dragon can be progressively upgraded. Special creatures must be shot to release the potions. There are four different ones and they all increase the basic power level.

Red potions give the dragon fire breath, Silver gives homing dragons (!), Blue gives lightning bolts and Gold gives Scales. The latter two provide a defensive shield if the tail is coiled into a circle and the joystick waggled vertically. Another unique feature is that at certain stages Kayus can dismount, and walk around on his own!

Kayus's quest is divided into six multi-load levels, each with a mega-baddie at the end. Death sends him back to the last reset point, taking one of four lives - there are no continue-plays.

This is a pretty straightforward shoot-'em-up with the only innovation being the dragon with its shimmering (some would say flickering) tail, which can be used to protect you or swung around offensively.

Otherwise, it's standard horizontally-scrolling blasting fare with wave after wave of aliens swooping in to attack. It's all very slickly done with the huge end-level creatures very impressive and a good Martin Walker soundtrack throughout.

But although the rather slow game pace makes it pleasantly playable, I just didn't find it all that compulsive - especially with the horrendous tape multi-load.

It's a good enough conversion, but Dragon Breed has nowhere near the impact of that more famous Irem coin-op, R-Type.

Dragon Breed follows in the vapour-trail of Atomic Robokid as another technically ambitious coin-op conversion. As with Robokid, plenty of effort has gone into getting the look of the coin-op, with good backdrops and limited vertical scrolling along with the horizontal flow of the game.

Possibly as a consequence there's a fair bit of flicker - the dragon continually flickers, giving a short of sheen effect which some people will like. More seriously, gameplay isn't as exciting as it might be, one big mid-level baddie looks much like the coin-op, but becomes very dull when static.

On the other hand, there are some biggish villains which look very nice, although they can be dull to kill. End-of-level baddies are probably best, the second level's is at least two screens high!

Also, the coin-op's graphical variety and size provide a consistently interesting challenge. Level two is quite a bit different from the first with long, sticky tendrils to trap you.

Unfortunately, big levels mean hefty multi-loading - many games load gaster than the levels here, and dying means reloading the whole thing! Activision seem to have put coin-op authenticity above everything else with this title, possibly even playability.

On disk the game could be a lot more fun, fairly playable and packed with variety. On cassette, only the most patient of Dragon Breed fans will enjoy it.

A £24.99 Amiga version should be out any day now.

Presentation 37%
Short title page/high score intro before the megaload levels. Cassette owners will need to be extremely patient.

Graphics 81%
Plenty of variety, with some impressive creatures - particularly great end-of-level monsters.

Sound 70%
Martin Walker provides a decent soundtrack, although it sounds much like that other Irem coin-op.

Hookability 80%
Easy to get into, although familiar gameplay is more enjoyable than compulsively addictive.

Lastability 77%
Six levels provide a varied challenge.

Overall 79%
An ambitious conversion which disk owners will enjoy.