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Doctor Van Helsing, Dracula's eternal adversary, has returned to dispatch the evil Count for all time with his armoury of a set of mirrors and his wits.

Taking the role of the vampire exterminator, the player is captive in a labyrinthine dungeon of over 160 eight-way push-scrolling screens.

An information panel beneath the playing area details the player's score, energy and time remaining, and the currently activated object. Score is increased by destroying any of the Count's evil aides - such as large rats, venom-spitting heads, snakes and naked women who draw in Van Helsing inexorably towards them - and collecting and correctly using rays of light. Energy - displayed as phial of blood - is severely depleted by continued contact with dungeon creatures, if it drains completely, or if the time runs out before the task is complete, the game ends.

Beneath the uninspired graphics lurks a decent puzzle game, which unfortunately is never given the chance to escape. The backdrops are badly drawn and gaudily coloured, leading to confusion because all the locations are indistinguishable, and the sprites are blocky and poorly animated.

The scrolling is activated too near to the edge of the screen and consequently some monsters are impossible to avoid because Van Helsing always slides to a halt.

It's also unbelievably frustrating to set up the mirrors only to find one misplaced... Vampire's Empire is far from amusing.

So where have Magic Bytes gone wrong with Vampire's Empire? For a start, each level is a huge maze of platforms to be negotiated by an extremely wayward string of ping-pong balls (apparently a ray of light).

It's hardly worth using the mirrors, because by the time you've selected the right one, the ray has bounced off the top of the screen never to be seen again.

Directing the light with the crystal ball is no better - after briefly moving in the right direction, the ray thinks better of it and chooses somewhere else to go. Hence, the chances of getting the ray *and* Dracula onto the exit block would the patience of a saint and more perseverance than any sane person possesses.

The awful control problems the player has with Van Helsing only makes things worse, so you switch off long before you've got your teeth into the game.

Presentation 45%
Reasonable instructions but unattractive screen display and awkward control method.

Graphics 25%
Sparse and badly drawn backdrops match the blocky, gaudy and poorly animated sprites.

Sound 18%
A few whines and bleeps fail to convey any kind of comic atmosphere.

Hookability 24%
The dullness and similarity of the graphics and poor control method repel any addictive qualities.

Lastability 19%
A large and complicated task, ruined by its poor aural and visual implementation.

Overall 20%
A poor attempt to combine arcade adventure and puzzle action.