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There's this bloke, right, and he's dead hard. He's got a big sword and he comes from a land where vowels have been virtually outlawed. So all the places have names like, Gzarwarr and F'gmtchalon. All the people have names like Gwamarr and Gstaklarr.

His name is Lone Wolf, star of Joe Dever's role-playing books, and he has the most normal name on the planet. He has mastered the fighting arts and now spends all his weekends in the garage, tinkering with magic and sorcery. Just when he's getting quite good, a very nasty group of evil magicians decide to try and destroy the world again. This time using an evil demon who lives in a mirror.

Lone Wolf discovers that the mirror has been broken into seven fragments. Each fragment has become a smaller part of the demon. These mini-demons must be destroyed. Only Lone Wolf is cool enough to do it. However, all of the seven mini-demons are hidden in their own goon-infested towers.

Lone Wolf has to make his way to the end of each tower and destroy the nasty demon, who is a reflection of Lone Wolf's own dark side and just as skilled m combat as he is.

Lone Wolf, being a typical Barbarian magician, is equipped with a sword and a plethora of magical tricks 'n' tactics. Rippling muscles and fiery magic wont be enough, though -jumping and leaping skills are also called for.

Basically, Lone Wolf is a platform arcade adventure with a hint of hack 'n' slash thrown in for good measure. The hero moves from screen to screen, avoiding or destroying the various baddies he encounters. Actually, the baddies don't vary too much. Your main problem are ugly little crows who fly around, knocking you off ladders and platforms.

As you climb, you will come across various obstacles. These include fire-spitting statues, huge fire-spitting Grim Reapers and little flying shuriken. These will seriously deplete your energy if they happen to strike you and are often difficult to avoid.

An irritating aspect of gameplay is the tediously slow rate of movement. Jerking forward like a particularly lethargic slug, the Lone Wolf sprite is hardly a sight to inspire knee-trembling excitement.

And when climbing ladders, be very careful that the only direction you push is straight up. Even the slightest hint of a diagonal will send you tumbling to the very bottom of the ladder, which could be two or three screens away... very frustrating. The graphics are very dull, bland platforms and dodgy sprites. The backgrounds are extraordinarily uninteresting, just the odd bit of brickwork here and there, and little in the way of atmosphere or style.

The fighting sections are reasonable, but again the sluggish animation spoils things. The two fighters look identical in all but colour. This fact is loosely explained in the plot, but the more cynical among you might have other ideas...

The range of moves is quiet extensive. with a variety of sword moves, kicks and punches. The various magical abilities can be called into play at this point, but your opponent can also make use of these. It is most annoying when the dude you are fighting suddenly vanishes, reappearing behind you with a nasty sword move. The sound is reasonable, with a nice opening tune and some neat spot effects. This is the game's only saving grace, however, and the action is much too sluggish and repetitive for any lasting interest.

Lone Wolf is a waste of a licence with very few saving graces and little in the way of lasting appeal. Avoid.

Lone Wolf is appalling. Horrible, chunky graphics and crushingly dull gameplay make for a truly dire game. Give this one a very wide berth indeed.

Beat the first two guardians.

Graphics 51%
Drab sprites, dull backgrounds and slow animation, no real appeal whatsoever.

Sonics 70%
Nice spot effects and a decent intro tune, it's fun sounding game.

Grab Factor 41%
Oh dear, it's far too slow to garner even a hint of real interest.

Staying Power 40%
Very "samey" gameplay and poor graphics make this ultimately resistable.

Overall 42%
The 'free' book gives this game a little VFM, but not enough to justify the price.