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The name of the game might be enough to give away the origin of this game but you'll be in no doubt as soon as you start playing. The classic Sorcery was obviously the inspiration. Even though The Apprentice (by James Higgins) isn't as good as the original it has a lot to offer at £1.99.

You play an apprentice wizard who's made a real hash of a nasty spell, and has to rectify it by collecting 10 rings. To collect each ring you'll need a little bit of help from a friendly wizard, who requires a specific object if he's going to help you out. If you can find the object and get it to the wizard, then he opens up a section of the game where a ring can be found.

The screens are very reminiscent of Sorcery, but the graphics aren't as atmospheric or as fast-moving. There aren't any doors either so the apprentice just moves off the edge of one screen and onto another. The apprentice moves about screen rather slowly but you can fly and walk him anywhere on screen.

There are plenty of threats to your meagre lives including arrows, skulls, spinning stars, birds, dragons and demons. These all follow movement patterns and can be either avoided or blasted with your limited supply of lightning bolts. However that measure is only temporary: if you re-enter the screen the monsters will have reappeared.

The objects that allow the wizards to cast a magic spell include a treasure chest, flag, gold key and horseshoe. To find out which object works with which wizard you just have to drop it while standing on the same spot with him. If nothing happens you've got the wrong object. The right object will cause a section of the scenery to slide away and you can go through it to some new screens where a ring will be found.

You can also remove sections of the scenery with a special scroll that can take out a chunk of wall. This will make it possible or easier to get to an area of the game or an object. These need to be used sparingly, of course, just in case you come up against a real impasse.

All ten rings have to be recovered within a time limit, but this is quite generous and should give you ample time.

Much more of a problem is landing on a screen to find a monster headed straight for you or right on top of you. This can put you into an infinite death loop that can ruin a lot of hard work.

Even though The Apprentice isn't original it's very competently done and provides an excellent challenge for any arcade adventurers who liked Sorcery. Its major problem is speed: the action is quite sedate. Despite that, you've still got a lot to cope with and have to concentrate hard.

10,000 points.

Ugly but visible.

There's an awful lot to explore here, but not a great deal of incentive to do so. The graphics are okay, but the gameplay just sort of plods along. The name The Apprentice may suggest comparisons with Sorcery but the action very definitely doesn't. Still, it's cheap I suppose.

P. Good, colourful graphics and monsters.
P. Large, well designed playing area.
P. 10 wizards take quite a bit of finding.
P. Disappearing sections of scenery are good.

N. Action is quite slow.
N. Not very original.