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The normally green and pleasant tree world of Dendra has been invaded. Not by Commies, Capitalists or even cute teddy bears, but by something far worse: vermin.

Seeing as arboreal flora can't protect itself against such an onslaught, Jake the three-legged, big-nosed Verminator has been called in to wipe out all know infestations. He's initially equipped only with a trusty hammer and enough cash to buy a couple of items from the local shop: grabbing hold of a teleport pass and catapult, he begins his battle against the mutant infiltrators.

Dendra is divided up into regions of push-scroll screens. These areas are all populated by some pretty nasty opponents: dangerous plants and animals, muggers, policemen and debt collectors, all of whom deplete your energy rapidly on contact.

Extra weapons can be bought with money, including medi-orbs (which give you three lives), a mushroom sack to collect valuable poisonous fungi and more weapons than you could shake a third leg at.

Some weapons are more effective than others at killing the vermin - and the better the weapon, the more readies you need. Unfortunately, you can only carry four items at once, and selling them back to the shopkeeper only rewards you with half the money you spent - so choose carefully.

Cash can be gained in several ways. You can go and gamble in a casino, where you've got a choice of dice, blackjack or a fruit machine; you can borrow some from a bank or loan shark; you can sell possessions; or, if you wait till the end of the week, you're paid a measly wage. Muggers will relieve you of all the money you've got unless you pummel them to death with the nearest available weapon.

After each seven days' vermin-bashing you're given a progress report. From here you can save the game position and read all the mail and messages you've received, which includes valuable information on the kind of vermin that will be abundant the following week, and the best way of killing them.

Verminator isn't original by any means, and it takes a lot of effort to get into. The vagueness of some graphics and the lack of adequate sound effects means you sometimes lose energy quickly without realising it.

Dendra is a large world and provides enough fodder for mappers to drool over, but exploration can become a chore because of the lack of variety between screens. The action does get more enjoyable with better weapons, and the gambling house is a fun way to fritter away your money, but the action is a bit too slow and repetitive to offer much lasting interest.

The bank, mobsters, casino, shops and weekly reports add variety to dull exploration, but it's ultimately just another arcade adventure. Fun for a short while only.