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A three part arcade adventure designed to strike terror into your very heart. Nosferatu is a game about vampires based specifically on Fassbinder's film of the same title but the actual plot seems to have more in common with Bram Stoker's original Dracula than anything else.

Part one sees you, Jonathan Harker, trying to recover the deeds to a house that you inadvertently left lying around the Count's castle. At the same time, you are trying to escape the clutches of the various bats and spiders that lurk within. In part 2, you control three characters as you try to lure Nosferatu into Lucy's house, at the same time making sure that you protect Lucy at all costs as she is the only one who can kill the vampire. To do that, she will need a stake and as there are none to hand, you must also find some way of manufacturing one. The final part sees you playing Lucy as you try to kill Nosferatu. Unfortunately, your two friends are not aware of the situation so you must lock them up out of harm's way.

The game uses 3D filmation-type graphics and are some of the largest and clearest ones used to date; the only annoying feature being the way that the rooms change colour to denote the passage of time. There are objects to be discovered to protect you from the various evil beasties - guns, boots, lamps and crosses. The attention to detail is excellent and I particularly liked the way some of the furniture can be manipulated to help you - the ladders in the library for example.

At the bottom of the screen is a window showing the time of day for you can only escape during daylight hours. As you come into contact with the rats or whatever, so a coffin starts to appear depicting our loss of strength. Fortunately, food and water is at hand to reduce the effects.

This is yet another example of where the licensed title adds absolutely nothing to the atmosphere of the game. There is no particular feeling of terror imparted - certainly no more than in any of the hundreds of other arcade adventures currently available. Certainly the graphics are impressive but that is not enough and the odd niggle such as poor instructions, no warning given to stop the tape for loading subsequent parts of the game and the fact that the Kempston option steadfastly refused to work on my copy all detract from the overall effect.

Not one of Piranha's better efforts.