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An evil necromancer has put a blight upon the land, turning the crops to dust and generally making life pretty miserable for the populace. While everyone else cowers at home, up steps beefcake barbarian, Torvak, ready to spill blood and restore the land to its former glory.

Torvak's an athletic sort, and when it comes to running, jumping, climbing and monster-hacking he's top man. Orcs wielding clubs, knives and longbows stand in his way, accompanied by flies, wasps, and poisonous plants. All are willing to give Torvak a rough ride, but a quick swipe or two is enough to send them into oblivion.

Apart from chopping things up, collecting the treasure that's lying about is also a good way to boost your score. Of more practical use are the swords, maces, warhammers and shields which can be magically upgraded by collecting potions and crystals.

The game is split into five levels, each with several subzones, and at the end of each level lurks a large ferocious demon. Defeat it, and move further onward until, at the end of the fifth and final massive level, you meet the Evil One. Defeat him and peace and prosperity will be restored to the lands, but remember - if you fail there won't be enough of you left to wipe the bathroom floor with.

I must admit to being highly scepitcal of a game. I mean, it's been done so many times before (Rastan, Rastan II, Legendary Axe, Barbarian II, etc). I was wondering if anything new could be done on the subject.

Unfortunately not, it seems. Torvak is an out-and-out Rastan style game, with big meathead travelling around myriad levels hacking monsters. No points for originality, then, so how does the game measure up otherwise?

Well, the sprites and backdrops are beautifully detailed, and there are lots of lovely monsters and end-of-level demons that explode in a spray of blood when killed (very tasteful).

The sound is switchable between grunts, groans and swishes, or very nice tunes, but these do get a little repetitive after a while. That's something that could also be said of the gameplay, because although slashing and bashing nasties is fun, it does begin to drag after a while. If you're after Rastan for the Amiga, you could do a lot worse than this, but twenty five notes is a lorra dosh for a game of this ilk, even if you do get a set of lead figures in the box.