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Back in the late eighties everybody was doing it. Gauntlet clones, that is, of which Puffy's Saga was the 'cute but weird' contribution from that reputable firm of French people, Ubisoft.

Imagine, if you will, the original Gauntlet and prepare to make a few notable changes. Firstly, reduce things to one player only. A tall order, one might think, especially as Gauntlet boasted one of the most fun two-player options ever on the Speccy, or at least it did until you just got rid of it. Next, fiddle about with the gameplay a bit; instead of aiming to locate the exit of each level, shooting things on the way, stick in a small number of Pac-Man type dots instead. Now to advance a level you have to scoff all the dots (with some dots rewarding you with maps or firepower) so feel free to considerably tone down the maze element of the game.

By now two pictures should have formed in your head - a gleaming, beautifully framed oil painting of Gauntlet, and a rather tatty, dog-eared preliminary sketch of Puffy's Saga. Tragically, a vicious circle seems to have formed. If you've played Speccy Gauntlet before then Puffy will seem slow, jerky and unexciting and graphically far inferior in comparison. If you don't already own Gauntlet then that along with Deeper Dungeons and Gauntlet 2 are available as a package for four quid on the Kixx label - as much overhead-scrolling shooting as you could ever get (and would probably ever want) for the money. My advice? Well. I haven't got any really. I just wouldn't bother with Puffy's Saga, that's all.