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Dreams have intrigued people for thousands of years, with artists, musicians and psychologists interpreting them in their own particular way. Everybody does it, so why not base a game around them?

Despite the title, the only thing US Gold's Dream Warrior has got to do with dreams is the Dreamscape-esque scenario. Set in the far future where man has discarded physical violence and now uses his mind to fight dream wars, the Earth is controlled by a huge corporation known as the Focus Fellowship, a bunch of nasty sods capable of plonking demons in people's dreams in order to dispose of them. Luckily, four members of a resistance group sussed out how to combat these Dream Demons. But they didn't bank on Ocular, the biggest, meanest, greenest and six-eyedest of all the demons. Now three of the resistance scientists are in its clutches, it's up to you as the fourth member to destroy Ocular and free them from their torment, saving the world from a fate worse than Paul Daniels in the process.

All well and good, but the game turns out to be nothing more than a rather hackneyed scrolling shoot-'em-up with very little to actually do and even less to see. I'm glad I don't have dreams as dull as this, it's enough to put you to sleep for good.

The fun starts with your character appearing in the bland office-block surroundings of Megabuck Inc. He's very well drawn, I must say, and moves convincingly, which is more than can be said for the aliens you shoot or avoid. It strikes me as strange that in a game which supposedly takes place in dreams, a majority of the inhabitants don't look remotely nightmarish and wouldn't look out of place in the space-like setting of a decent shoot-'em-up. That said, the Dream Demons (shot for bonus points) which appear occasionally are rather more suitable; it's a pity they don't appear that often.

The aliens come in four different flavours and all leave a small globe when shot. Picking up the green globes before they disappear gives you energy to allow you to jump from one dream to another by means of transporters called Dream Hoppers. Red globes allow you to access the safes in the walls of Megabuck Inc to boost your energy and keep you asleep. If you wake up it's game over. Collecting grey globes means you can use the lifts to move between the two floors of the two levels of the Megabuck building, and lastly the blue globes build up a picture of the scientist whose dream you occupy. You need to build up pictures of all three scientists before you can take on Ocular in a duel to the death.

Dream Warrior's gameplay is pretty flimsy, and what makes matters worse there are only three small levels to negotiate. All you have to do is stand around shooting blue aliens and collect the globes, occasionally replenishing your energy, before you confront Ocular. Ho hum. Actually, with gameplay as dull as this it's fortunate that there are only three levels. It seems a shame to waste good graphics and sound on such a mediocre concept.