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Elvira, the star of many a schlock-horror B-movie extravaganza and president of the film company Black Widow Productions, is in serious trouble. She's been forced into a compromising situation by Cerberus, the three-headed dog from Hell, and is being held captive somewhere on her own studio lot. Our canine friend is torturing her with the kind of breath associated with years of Chappie and Pedigree Chum Mixer consumption - but the worst is yet to come. If her clueless boyfriend, Stud Muffin (aka you), can't rescue her by midnight, we can all kiss goodbye to everyone's favourite vamp.

It's no easy task though. Stud will have to battle his way through three movie sets - a maze-like web, an old Victorian House, and a fog-enshrouded graveyard - before he can reach his beloved. He has magic and brute strength on his side, but you'll have to help him defeat more monsters than you'd find in your worst nightmares if you want him to succeed.

This is your first puzzle: how do you actually get into the studio in the first place? Gates such as this bar your passage throughout the game, and are usually the signal for an annoying interlude of disk-loading. Usually you need a key, a code or both to open them.

Like many of the characters, this Native American (found squatting in the basement) can offer you useful advice, as long as you're not sarcastic in your line of questioning. Other encounters are not so friendly: on the second floor of the building you'll run across more formidable company.

Feeling that the answer might lie inside the security hut, you pick up a handy rock, quietly chuck it through the window and force your way in. Inside there's a nasty surprise, a bunch of keys (attached to the nasty surprise) and access to the security system.

There are a quartet of character classes to choose from at the beginning of the game, each with appropriate statistics and skills. You can't generate your own players, but as you'd expect from a decent RPG, your stats can be improved with experience.

You've barely put one foot in front of the other before Elvira pops up amid a cloud of smoke to offer you a welcome and steer you in the right direction. Fortunately, she doesn't make a habit of it.

Anyone who's played Elvira: Mistress Of The Dark will be able to find their way around Elvira II. The Seismic Activity indicator - which reveals approaching monsters - and a status display are useful additions, but fail to make this game radically different from its predecessor.

The plot is new, but the game system is essentially the same, comprising Dungeon Master-style 3D (with excellent, gory graphics), handy inventory and controls displays surrounding the play area, and a huge number of disks (this time there are seven). On the whole, the interface is reasonably intuitive to use: if you want to go somewhere you usually have a choice of clicking on the screen or on the cursor arrows.

However, exploration sorely lacks the Dungeon Master 'sideways movement' command: for example, if you want to go to the right, you have to spin through 90 degrees and move forward - two actions where one would have been more user-friendly.

Other commands are better implemented: you can pick up objects by dragging them into your inventory with the mouse, and clicking on an item automatically brings up a menu of commands associated with it.

Elvira II is a decent RPG, marred by excessive disk swapping - there are occasions when the loading takes up more time than the action - but with plenty of monsters, good combat and magic systems, and a large landscape to explore, there's plenty to keep you entertained. All you need is patience...