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One hundred and three years after his expulsion from the land of Belorn, Acamantor the dark mage has returned. Once again Druid Hasrinaxx takes up the fight against the demon prince, travelling to Acamantor's tower to vanquish the nefarious necromancer forever.

Hasrinaxx begins his quest near the village of Ishmar and traverses nine multi-directionally scrolling lands plus five levels of the Acamantor's tower before his quest is completed. Along every step of the way, hordes of the dark mage's lackeys attack in an attempt to stop the good Druid reaching his goal.

There are 25 different spells located throughout the land, and these are picked up and used against the swarming enemy, although the adversaries have retaliatory powers which make the Druid's life difficult. Some spells are ineffective on certain creatures, so it's a case of working out which spell to shoot at what creature.

If things become particularly tough, Hasrinaxx has the option to create an elemental to help influence the battle. This large and lumbering creature is either controlled by another player, or by inputting preset commands through the keyboard. It protects Hasrinaxx by stomping any attackers, although with each enemy crushed, the elemental loses some of its magical powers. It eventually disappears from whence it came when all its powers have been sapped.

The majority of the screen is taken up by the scrolling display which depicts the Druid in his wode robe as he battles across the land. A panel below shows the Druid's inventory, any incoming messages and the status and type of Elemental currently in use. An electrical indicator shows the Druid's current change of power bolts, and to the right of this are eight windows, indicating which spell is currently ready for use.

A green rating bar below the main panel grows as the mission progresses and is a good guide to hom well the Druid is fairing. An energy icon to the right of the main screen depicts Hasrinaxx's constitution - depleted when an adversary touches the Druid or by walking through fire or water.

When the Druid's energy is lost, his efforts are rated on how much of the quest was solved. Orc Breath is the lowest rating, and Overlord is awarded when Acamantor is finally destroyed.

Battling through a series of anti-social landscapes armed with an arsenal of up to 25 speels to throw at the demonic inhabitants is certainly the recipe for a spell of magic mayhem.

The blue Druid smoothly struts about the land dishing out anti-evil spells on the locals like there's no tomorrow - which would probably be the case if Acarnantor has his way.

Moody melodies coupled with unearthly sound effects add to the atmosphere. There's plenty of depth in the action, and budding Overlords should be kept busy for quite some time. Conjure up the readies and buy it now!

Here it is! The continuing story of everyone's favourite Druid and his loveable sidekick elemental. After many years in retirement the old mage returns to find the world overrun with many nasty creatures - so what does he do? He dons his cloak and favourite pointy hat and provides us with some great entertainment as he saves the world, again.

It takes a bit of practice to get going, but once you do there's much fun to be had. Druid II is a very playable sequel to an equally playable original game - magic!

The sequel to the successful Druid has certainly been a long time coming, but it has definitely been worth the wait. The gameplay is basically the same as the first, but this time around there are 25 spells to master and 15 different levels to battle through - as well as a load of new adversaries to contend with.

There's certainly plenty of depth, and even those who've played the original should have their work cut out trying to work out what to do at the right time.

Although Druid II is another in a long line of Gauntlet clones, it's one of the best you're likely to see on the Commodore - go for it.

Presentation 87%
Great one or two player option, and plenty of useful on-screen info.

Graphics 84%
The sprites are a little chubby, but the backdrops are great.

Sound 76%
Atmospheric tune and spot effects.

Hookability 83%
A hostile environment results in a lot of short games, but the action is enjoyable nonetheless.

Lastability 82%
A large scrolling map to battle through and a whole army of creatures to contend with.

Overall 85%
An entertaining and worthy sequel to Druid.