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This little gothic number from Ariolasoft has got absolutely nothing to do with CRL's atmospheric and stomach-churning Frankenstein, and even less to do with Mary Shelley. It doesn't even have any resemblance to the wonderful 1935 horror flick of the same name.

Unusually for computer games, you control a female character, in this case a dumpy Scandinavian wench with strapping arms and a waddle. She's probably called Irma. She's got the hots for Frankenstein, the monster who's waiting at the top of the towwer while the lightning crashes all around.

Before Gerta and Frankie can get it on, there's the minor problem of the latter's missing organs. These include lungs, liver, kidneys, heart and, wait for it, brain. Yes, brain. This, according to the instructions, is what you need 'to make a man of him'. Oliver Reed might tend to disagree.

So Olga goes stomping off to ransack the castle and dig up half the countryside in search of hormone-free offal for her beloved.

Now, from that simple storyline, you would probably expect this to be the usual frenetic scramble through chambers, crypts and dungeons, keeping one step ahead of ghosts and ghoulies, picking up useful objects like keys, spades, lanterns, etc. And no doubt there would be the odd flash of elixir to top up your energy, and a stupidly short timespan in which to do the business.

And you'd be dead right.

Yeah, we've got the predictable colourful and chunky graphics, quaint and largish sprites, and about sixty flip-screens of psuedo-3D locations. Dotted about the place is a spade for digging up coffins in the graveyard, a pick-axe for smashing open the tombs in the crypts, a lantern for obvious reasons, and seven keys which are situated as far away as possible from the doors which they unlock.

In fact, if it wasn't for the keys there wouldn't be much of a game, as Greta spends most of her time plodding back and forth picking up and dropping Yales because she can only carry one at a time.

The game is only marginally redeemed by one unusual feature. Entering one location, referred to as The Sanctuary in the instruction, affects the immediate geography of the castle, so that when you exit you'll find you've suddenly got a short cut to the room with the lantern, passing on the way the pink key which unlocks the distant chamber where the pick-axe is.

Digging amongst the tombstoes reveals kidneys, liver and lungs in abundance, though some of it looks decidedly dodgy. I've got a nasty feeling that the heart and all-important brain can only be extracted from the living, shackled prisoners in the dungeons.

Bride Of Frankenstein is aimed fairly and squarely at arcadesters who seem to enjoy this sort of mindless but mildly entertaining drivel. It's competently and attractively presented - though with a continually irritating and often fatal change of viewpoint every time Gretel goes through a door. But the game's difficulty all hinges on one feature that for me kills the whole thing stone dead. You only get one life.

However far you progress, one deadly encounter with a nasty sends you right back to the beginning for a new game. You don't even get a percentage score for your trouble.

And so playing Bride Of Frankenstein boils down to performing the same actions again and again and again. That's not challenging. That's just boring.