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Storm is by far and away the best budget game I've ever seen on any micro. A big claim. Maybe so. But my advice is to play it yourself and find out for yourself.

Storm is the first of a bunch of Gauntlet clones about to hit your home games machine. Gauntlet, just in case you haven't seen the game in that arcades, is an amazing multi-player D&D adventure. The official version is on its way from U.S. Gold - but watch out for other clones. But while you're waiting - if you own an Amstrad - get some practice in with Storm the Warrior and Agravain Undead on a mission to rescue Storm's wife Corrine, a prisoner in Una Cum's castle.

The game can be played by one or two players - one controlling each character. You have to find your way through many maze-like rooms packed to the walls with Una's barbarian soldiers and nasty monsters. Pick up food and drink to preserve your energy, and discover bits of armour to protect yourself.

Find a scroll and you can use its magic like a Smart bomb to destroy all the inhabitants of a room - but you'll have to zap the monster generators you find to stop more enemies being created.

The main aim of the game is to collect three snake brooches which give you the power to unlock the door to Una's lab where Corrine is being held captive.

But along the way you're in for some tough battles and baffling puzzles.

The graphics would look good in a full price game. Extremely colourful. You get an overhead view of each room and look down on the character you control. Messages about each room, sometimes giving clues, scroll across the top of the main play screen. More messages about items you discover also appear here. When you eat something a message like "That's the best thing I've tasted all day!" flashes up.

You have to move pretty quickly to succeed in Storm - there's always some thing or somebody out to kill you. And even if you've cleared one room the monsters will return if you try to re-enter it. More fun for the map makers out there...

The only thing I didn't like about the game is that you don't get a joystick option. The whole thing runs from the keyboard. This addition would make Storm as good as many full-price offerings around right now. A budget game that thinks it's worth nine quid!