If you're approaching retirement age with your memory still in full working order, chances are you'll recall the 'revolutionary' (yet undeniably crap) '80s arcade machine that was Dragon's Lair with misty eyes. Now back: revamped, redesigned and ready to entertain impressionable new audiences, the imaginatively titled Return To The Lair sees you once again battling a hotchpotch of absurdities all in the name of lurrrve.

You play Dirk the Daring, a heroic Indiana Jones type for the medieval generation. His quest is to rescue the sultry Princess Daphne (old age has made the lovely lady even leggier) from a big scaly dragon called Singe, who is holding her hostage in a gloomy tower belonging to - gulp! - an evil wizard.

Each part of this enormous structure is split into its own unique little puzzle or platforming challenge. These can include activating hidden door levers, functioning buttons with crossbows, acrobatically reaching perilous ledges, running between checkpoints, pummelling evil boss monsters or placing objects on magical posts. While much of the jumping and rope-swinging can be pretty yawnsome, there are some well-designed head-scratchers too. Floor puzzles, where you have to leap across moving tiles, can have you unsuspectingly hooked until you've cracked them, while various spells and abilities offer you new ways of combating adversity. There's a reasonable degree of variety throughout, for which developer Dragonstone deserves credit.

However, despite the inevitable influence of time, the notorious trial-and-error gameplay of the original title is not entirely absent. Sure, the button memorising sequences have long since vanished into a bottomless abyss, but you can still be zonked on the head by a moving wall, impaled by a fallen stalactite, or spiked by a booby-trapped cupboard with little warning. More than any other game in the world ever, Dragon's Lair 3D will probably see you dying more deaths than a Peter Andre comeback tour.

Thankfully, while this sounds frustrating, generous restart points virtually return you to within inches of your point of death, and it can become a fun process learning exactly where you can and can't move, and what hazards you need to avoid.

Yet while Dragon's Lair 3D does have its merits, it is also riddled with downfalls. The sword slashing is so basic it makes passing wind after cabbage soup seem troublesome in comparison, and the atrocious collision detection is both frustrating and laughable in equal measure. But above all else, Dragon's Lair 3D is just too remarkably simple and retro in concept to offer anything more than a passing bit of fun. Only extreme nostalgics and the young need apply.

1. Some good puzzles
2. Very charming
3. It's Dirk the Daring!

1. Trial-and-error gameplay
2. Can be too generic
3. Dodgy collision detection

Power
It's certainly colourful and cute, but could hardly be called ground-breaking anymore.

Style
Pretty to look at. Its humour and music has all the grace of a Disney movie.

Immersion
Simple stuff, but some of the more difficult puzzles will grab your attention.

Lifespan
There are more than 250 chamber challenges to keep you occupied for a fair while.

Summary
Looks good and is quietly addictive, but far too dated to really hold your attention. Patient kids might enjoy it.