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Hellfire is an arcade adventure from Melbourne House. The description of Hellfire runs as follows:

"Re-enact the trials of Ulysses in this fast-moving arcade game with a difference. Climb the slopes of Olympus, avoiding the falling boulders and the destructive stars of the Gorgon, and outwit the Minotaurs in the Temple of Knosses, only to be trapped in the maze, where lives the reptilian assassin and the fireball thrower. Can you avoid all these perils and join your peers in the Elysium fields?"

The combination of the title and the above description left me in great anticipation of the game that was to follow, but I regret to say that I was a little disappointed with the result.

There are three levels of the game to complete and, once past the final level, you have won.

The first task is to climb the ledges up to the cave entrance. To do this, you must jump from ledge to ledge being careful not to fall, for you could lose a life. Avoid the falling boulders which roll under your feet and knock you flying to your death. You must also use your shield against the Gorgon's deadly stare.

This first level was surprisingly the best of all three. There was a certain amount of skill and practice required in jumping from rock to rock in order to reach the cave entrance whilst avoiding the falling boulders. The little man running about the screen is extremely athletic and can reach an amazing height with his jumping. This level still had its drawbacks however. The Gorgon was nowhere to be seen and I was most upset to find that the ledges on my screen were not the delightful shade of green they appeared on the inlay card, but a rather boring black and white (Before you ask, no my television is not black and white!). Still, I pressed on and found to my delight when entering the cave entrance, my score shot up by a huge amount very rapidly.

Once that level is achieved you find yourself in a sacred temple inside the mountain ready to attempt the second task. The temple consists of four height levels with six pillars, three pillars for very two levels. You must run from pillar to pillar, sneaking past the minotaurs on guard. Running from pillar to pillar transports you to another part of the temple. This transporting appears to be completely random and where you reappear could be anywhere, so getting up to the entrance to the next level is purely a matter of luck. The minotaurs stayed rather tamely on the lower levels and were fairly easy to avoid. I found to my annoyance on a couple of occasions that even when I had managed to reach the door at the top of the temple, I couldn't get up the next level.

When reaching the third level to begin the final task, you are given three maces. You must find your way through the maze and attempt to locate the exit. Use your mace to kill the monsters and break exits open. Extra maces can be found in the chests scattered throughout the maze. I found this level rather more difficult.

Arcade adventures, as I said in a previous review, are not my strong point and I never had time to find extra maces to defend myself with before getting well and truly beaten by the opposition. When you do run out of maces, a nice cheery message appears on the screen. "You have no maces left, you have no chance of survival." The only consolation that I had was that I made it to the high score table.

The game is not joystick compatible but keyboard operational only, though this is not necessarily a drawback. I myself find a keyboard easier to use and the keys were well chosen so I had no problem with movement.

It's a pity the game did not live up to my expectations and I wondered at one point if perhaps there was a bug in the program. Both sides of the tape however loaded perfectly every time so I assume there was no problem. If a reader who possesses Hellfire has found the game to be rather different to my description, please write and inform me and I will make the appropriate corrections.