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So this is a conversion of the Sega 'coin-op hit'. Strange - in all my years of very regular arcade going I've never seen a Desolator machine! Oh well, I'll just have to judge the game on its own merits...

Well, for a start the plot is ludicrous; after reading the instructions twice I've come to the conclusion that they must have been penned by a loony and translated from Japanese, through Norwegian to the English. Apparently, the player takes control of Mac the Hero, who enters Castle Sketch to save the Peters (sic). This actually means battling up a vertically scrolling landscape to rescue children. Why they're all called Peter is beyond my comprehension.

The action is viewed Gauntlet-style and kids are released by punching the faces that hang on the wall, whereupon they leap out and wander around until they're picked up by Mac. Throughout the quest, Karios' henchmen attack and deplete Mac's energy bar on contact. Fortunately, the hero has a strong punch, and one press of the fire button sends an aggressor flying across the screen. Better still, if six Peters are collected, Mac turns into 'Machoman' for a short period of time, and is invincible to all and sundry. [Is that the same as a McMahon? - Ed]

As well as henchmen, Bajo (Kairos' fire-raising and Zombie-manipulating mum), Parjo (Karios' screaming, apple-throwing daughter) and a variety of other equally nasty people provide extra hassle as Mac continues on his rescue mission. There are also doors and walls to knock down, transporters to negotiate and bridges to cross. At the end of each of the four levels you're confronted by what looks like four regenerating breakdancing bogeys. Keep on punching them, and eventually they die, and the next level is loaded.

Now, all this sounds like fun, and indeed I was expecting great things - with a scenario as wacky as this, surely the game had to be a laugh-a-minute. Sadly this isn't the case and the end result is a poor vertically scrolling Gauntlet clone. The first couple of games are enjoyable, but the action soon becomes repetitive due to the lack of variety in the gameplay. Another annoying aspect is that the difficulty level is set very low. It only takes a few games to get to the final level, which doesn't bode well for lasting appeal. The long-winded multi-load also helps to damped the enjoyment.

The game doesn't look too bad, although the colourful backdrops are let down by some indistinct sprites which occasionally glitch when things get busy. The soundtrack is only average, and even that begins to grate after a while.

Desolator offers only short-term entertainment, and I expect more than that for a tenner.