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Ghouls belongs squarely to an era, long gone, where a game could be brought to market with an uncomplicated, and not overthought, idea. It's a rotund, yellow man that eats jewels (and the odd power pill) and yet it's a far cry from Pac-Man. Instead, Ghouls is a "run and jump" platform game, with rudimentary graphics and sound, played from the side.

The aim is to make it through each of the "haunted rooms" to the very top right of the screen. Here sits a rather alluring mirage of a treasure chest. However, actually manage to fight your way over to this and it is replaced with two grinning, red balloon things, the titular "ghouls" no less, and the hero "escapes" to the next level. (This dynamic reminds me a little of a donkey chasing a carrot on a stick but I'm probably taking it a little bit too seriously.)

The game's nemeses are primarily the roaming funny-looking "ghouls" but also on later levels some rather ferocious-looking bouncing arachnids. If you know what's good for you, you'll avoid both.

The platform game itself is not bad. Basically, all you have to do is run around, collect the cash, avoid running off the platform edges and not skewer yourself on the spikes. A lot like life, in fact.

Alas, Ghouls is a little on the frustrating side playabilitywise. The first irk with it is with the random nature of where the ghoul is plotted when each screen starts. Sometimes he's a long way away; other times he's not. And, although he always moves at the same speed (a sort of sharp 8-pixel "jump" in one of the four directions), where he is initially drawn has a significant impact upon the game itself. Sometimes you need to "lure" him in one direction or another, by just standing still!

The second irk is in the game's general lack of responsiveness which rears its ugly head a lot of the times you attempt to leap the spikes only to run into them instead.

Overall, it's fairly run-of-the-mill whilst simultaneously being somewhat unique. A game from the Electron's golden era, it's a shame it only has four levels which, truth be told, aren't even imaginatively designed.

Nevertheless, a bit of practice may well see you reach level four and finally get your mitts on the treasure. And, considering you'd be hard-pushed to describe Ghouls' graphics, sound and playability as anything more than average, it does manage to be a bit more fun than this review might suggest. When you do finally get your hands on the goodies, you're returned to level one... with two ghouls instead of one.

Ghouls is not rare and can often be picked up for £1 or so.