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Hercules looks absolutely awful. It isn't. Quite.

I wouldn't go as far as some other magazines and say that Hercules is a great game that just looks like a terrible one but certainly it has some unusual features.

It looks like a platforms and ladders game, the plot is based on the twelve labours of Hercules as divided over fifty screens. For those who don't know about the twelve labours worry not, somehow they are all reduced to running and jumping around and dodging funny objects. But that's not all.

What makes Hercules al little ore than a runny jumpy game with terrible graphics is the overall structure of each screen. It isn't merely a matter of jumping this, dodging that, taking this route or whatever, you find that over time things happen - previously safe platforms turn into fire - other platforms look safe but turn to fire the moment you step on them, sometimes you don't even know where the platforms are... This adds a different dimension to the game and gets it a few brownie points (a star's worth I guess).

I would still say that a) the graphics on Hercules are unspeakably bad b) some of the 'will it burst into flames? element' is simply unfair at least first time around - no amount of skill, dexterity or judgement will help you solve it and it's just luck.

I wouldn't go so far as to recommend this one even at a budget price but if you are an addict of the platforms and ladders genre and fancy something a bit unusual this could be of interest.

Label: Alpha Omega Author: In House Price: £1.99 Joystick: various Memory: 48K/128K Reviewer: Graham Taylor

**

Not quite a boring platform and ladders game with terrible graphics. Some neat twists earn it a few extra points.