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Desolator is the name that has been given to the micro conversion of the coin-op hit, Halls of Kairos. Kairos is the Great Satan and the Halls are his pad. On their walls hang mirrors, trapped behind which are infants — known in the game as Peters - and your job is to guide Mac (Our Hero) around the halls releasing as many Peters as possible.

There are White Peters, Green Peters, Red Peters and... yes, you guessed correctly... there are Blue Peters too! Catching the variously pigmented Peters results in various bonuses being awarded.

The ultimate aim of the game is to catch the Red Peter and thus turn into the invincible Machoman.

The instructions are a little vague as to what one does once one has become invincible. One would have thought being invincible sort of takes the challenge away, but then Desolator isn't too difficult a challenge anyway.

Success depends more on brawn than brain. Millions... well, OK, hundreds... of little blue guards march through the halls. Contact with them rapidly drains your energy, so they have to be dodged or persuaded to go away with a well aimed left hook.

If you do get sapped, healthy living can be restored by punching jars that conceal slabs of extra energy.

The instruction sheet details a mega cast of special characters and features, some of which have been implemented on the Amstrad version. I had difficulty finding most of them.

Nevertheless, I found Desolator to be a pleasant enough game. Short on blood and guts; long on colour and playability.