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Beast-Man didn't have a happy childhood. Through no fault of his own, he fell in with bad company, and was soon the messenger slave of the Beast Lord, Maletoth. Inevitably, being enthralled to a dark necromancer and trapped in a mutated body, Beast's schoolwork suffered. Prospects for the future were not bright.

Then, by happy chance, Beast recognised his father who was being executed, and all his memories came back. Well, it was a bit of a rum occasion, but at least Beast was stirred to action. He avenged his father's death by Zelek, the Beast Mage, and as a bonus got his human body back.

But the baddies have a habit of bouncing back. Beast Mage did just that by stealing Beast's sister, and whisking her off to exotic Kara-Moon, for training as Beast's replacement. Rather than see her follow in his footsteps, Beast rushes to Kara-Moon, but finds the countryside teeming with the Mage's main men. Without all that raw animal power of his beast form, the going might be tougher second time round.

Beast runs around the landscape. He has a mace to fight with, and also faces a range of logic puzzles to solve.

Beast II features about 100 different species of the evil one's minions. Some are completely thick and flap about the fields and caverns of Kara-Moon. There are also clever monsters who engage you in armed combat, or try and squash you with heavy stone blocks.

Beast caries a mace for protection, and he swings it around in order to slap the demonic minions into the middle of next week. The mace extends and retracts a bit like rubber band, catching any baddies on the way. The other weapon Beast is licensed to carry is a throwing axe. These are located in treasure chests. Strangely, a throwing axe only works for ten seconds once activated, but for that time Beast's attack has extra power.

Beast II is what you call a hybrid; a mix of shooting and puzzling action. The puzzle part involves solving inscrutable puzzles to obtain further objects for progress. The game fits together in a chain, which means any link missed, or bodged, wrecks your chances and you have to start again.

An early example of this is the Demon and the rope. You have to kill the demon before he cuts the rope or escape from the pit is impossible. The rock puzzle's a good example of what's expected of you. Use the grabber to move the boulder over the spike, then drop it. Then figure a way to move the small rock to the seesaw, without dropping it in the water.

Beast I wasn't any great shakes, so who had the idea of converting this? The Amiga game's yonks old, and no improvements seemed to have been made at all. The graphics are quite well-defined, but seem flat and boring, and very Amiga-ish. The sound's just as bland, suiting the pace of the game to a tee. The problem is that not much seems to happen, and what does is pretty tedious.

I could gripe about the puzzles - it's all levers and keys, and the fact that mucking up once means restarting. What is also inexplicable is why the glitches caused by the Amiga loading have been incorporated on a ROM cart. In the end, who cares? Beast II is just plain mediocre.

Sorry EA, but what you wanted with this one, I've no idea. Beast 1 was no great shakes and neither is this sequel. The graphics aren't bad, with some pretty backgrounds and vaguely imaginative sprites, but it's all so utterly flat and two-dimensional, you're put right off from the outset.

Sounds are pretty naff which, strangely enough, matches the gameplay - there just isn't enough in there to keep you interested for very long. The fact that some of the obstacles and enemies are impossible to avoid, draining your precious energy bottle, is ridiculous and the way just one small mistake means you have to start again from the very beginning is utterly preposterous!

This isn't a terrible game - just very, very average - and arcade adventure freaks would be much better off giving it a miss and going for something like Gods instead.

Presentation 65%
P. The lengthy intro of the Amiga is missing, and options are sparse. The loading glitches are a total mystery.

Graphics 76%
P. Nice definition and some of the backgrounds and sprites are imaginative.
N. A general feel of sparseness and flatness is one of the game's most depressing features.

Sound 66%
N. Slow, ponderous music floats on in the background, never once bringing itself or the player to attention. Rather poor FX.

Playability 61%
P. Things are available to shoot almost immediately, and both directions can be explored at the start.
N. The game never makes itself rewarding to play, some collisions are unavoidable.

Lastability 53%
P. A large playing area, and taxingly obscure puzzles, mean it will take a while to solve.
N. There's nothing to really look forward to. The game carries on in much the same vein throughout.

Overall 58%
Beast II is not a total disaster, just a charmless arcade adventure that is past its prime, and fails to create any interest at all.