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After repeatedly dazzling Commodore owners with his macho, well 'ard flick-screen shoot-'em-up designs, Raffaele Cecco has now gone all soppy (or pervy) with this romantic tale of mythic adventure. An evil Queen has imprisoned all the fairies in the land and only the Stormlord can rescue them - by jumping on top of them! Needless to say, all the fairies are female and distinctly lacking clothing, so that's not bad but actually getting to them in the first place is never easy.

The game is made up of four levels, each with five fairies to rescue before time runs out. The smoothly-scrolling landscapes which contain the spellbound fairies have a wide variety of monsters, from swooping dragons to vicious pawns, and lots of traps. To rescue one fairy, for example, you need an umbrella to survive acid rain. Working out how to use the various objects is fairly easy, but getting the order right, blasting all the baddies and not running out of time isn't.

At the end of each level, there's a bonus section where Stormlord receives the gratitude of the fairies, who fly overhead while the gruff hero blows kisses at them. If a kiss touches one of the fairies, she drops a single tear. Collect ten tears and you get an extra life.

Nick Jones has done another, first-class conversion of a Raf Cecco design. The graphics are all really attractive, and the in-game music is good as well. The adventure elements are relatively easy to work out, but doing them in the correct order and beating the tough arcade sections makes completing level one really satisfying.

The other levels are even tougher, but repeatedly playing through level one to get to them becomes irritating. Nevertheless, it's been a while since such a well-presented arcade adventure has appeared, and while there's nothing new, it's all very playable.

Any game containing nude women gets my vote! Raf Cecco's fab arcade adventure has been converted to the C64 in great style, retaining all the compulsive playability of the original.

Collecting fairies might seem a simple idea, but working out how to get to them requires some thought. And what better reward for your troubles than the neat bonus round, complete with even more naked fairies! But it's not just the saucy sprite which impress - the scenery is attractive and the hero excellently animated.

My only worry is that, with only four levels, experienced games players might complete it too quickly, but they'll sure have fun doing it!

I honestly thought Cybernoid was dead good but the sequel sadly more of the same (well, we can't win them all). Stormlord is a lot different of course and enjoyable with it but it's all too slow moving to keep you at it and mistakes are mercilessly punished - a toughie this one.

The preview game I saw a while back looked excellent and with the coming of the final game that view still stands. Shaded backdrops galore, well detailed sprites abound (I luurve the top-heavy fairies) and an excellent if unoriginal and heavy soundtrack (bits of Ghosts 'N Goblins in there methinks?).

Professionally implemented but not one for the Cybernoid crowd.

Presentation 88%
The game is perfectly polished and the control method is simple enough.

Graphics 89%
The main character's animation is very smooth as he explores the attractive scenery.

Sound 82%
Plenty of little jingles throughout and a good title tune.

Hookability 79%
Easy to get into and infuriatingly addictive.

Lastability 78%
Challenging enough to keep you playing for weeks.

Overall 80%
A typical Hewson release: superb presentation and very playable.