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Occasionally, a game comes along that proves the point that you don't have to have great graphics for it to be addictive. I originally saw Hercules on the C64 and I thought that no-one could come up with a game that had worse graphics. Well, the people who converted it to the Spectrum have managed it.

So what is it about Hercules that makes it addictive? Well, it is a platform game but with the added interest of problems to be solved as well as monsters to be leapt, etc.

You play the part of Hercules as you try to complete his twelve labours. Each labout is spread over several screens and the first eleven appear in a random order. Only if you succeed in completing all of them wil you have the chance to have a crack at the twelfth.

Your first problem on each screen is usually one of time. The platform you start on has the annoying habit of bursting into flames and frying you to a crisp if you stand around waiting for more than a couple of seconds. This forces you into action which is usually equally lethal. Ropes and platforms collapse under you plummeting you to a fiery grave.

Frequently, the route to your objective - a large door - isn't obvious at all and you have to take a wild plunge into the unknown, hoping that a platform will miraculously appeaar under you. You soon get used to ignoring the platforms originally on the screen as they tend to be red herrings. This leads a lot of people to claim that the game is too random but it only needs for you to complete a couple of fifty plus screens to get the hang of what's going on and you are hooked.

Presentation-wise the game is dreadful. The chosen keys are unplayable, with no redefine option, although you can use a joystick. When it says 'Press P to start', it actually means Caps Shift and and as already mentioned, the graphics are dreadful - the crudity of the C64 version with added garishness. But, for all that, I do keep going back and playing it again and again.