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There were seven in the film. They were cold, hard and unforgiving, with nerves of steel and unfailing sense of humour. Now Ed Ricketts gives you the chance to recreate that role... First Dwarf, an exciting tale of short people with big katanas

Samurai don't grow on trees, you know. Someone has to train them before they can go out and slice people up. Unfortunately, by the time a samurai is good enough to teach anyone else, he's not really that far off kicking the bucket himself.

So, when an evil magician decided to have a go at the First Sam's master (because he's evil and that's the sort of thing he does!), the old goat didn't stand much of a chance. Understandably, First was a little ticked off to find himself halfway through Lesson Five, "How to Pick Up a Sword," with no idea of what to do next. Fortunately, the old master did some magic himself on the side, and, with his last burst of magicness, he transported the young sam into the future, whence the magician had disappeared.

Right, so we finally get to the point of First Samurai. Sam No 1 is chasing the nebulous magician over ten scrolling platform levels in the hope that he can get onto Lesson Six. The levels range from the countryside of rural Japan to the inner cities, including a railway, and finally to the penthouse apartment of the unpleasant necromancer himself.

Initially, you're swordless, with just your fists and feet to beat off the hordes of unfriendlies. You need to kill a certain number of enemies to get your sword, but beware: if your energy is dramatically reduced, you lose it again. Energy is (predictably) increased by collecting artfully-placed food, and there's a separate measure of courage (or enemies killed).

There are plenty of other objects to collect. Throwing knives supplement your sword and give you some range in fighting the opposition. Lamps show you hidden bonuses, but they don't necessarily make them instantly available to you - you may still have to work out how to get them. And very importantly, there are bells. Never be without a bell, because they can summon the spirit of your dead master. He can get you past what seem to be completely impassable spots, but only in the right circumstances - you can't use him just anywhere you fancy.

To help you survive for more than three minutes, you can use the life pots. Cunningly disguised as pots, these are activated by donating some of the energy from your courage pool to the pot. Thereafter, when you die you're returned to that point rather than the start of the level.

La Premiere Sam himself is a well-'ard dude who struts across the screen in a way that's uncannily similar to Robert Mitchum. His sword has a nice habit of leaving speed blurs in the air and glints nastily, giving you the impression that it isn't a good idea to shake hands with it. The other samurai also look the part, silly hats or no silly hats, but some of the creatures are a mite disappointing. The bats are a uniform shade of black which doesn't tend to show up remarkably well against the, er, black background, and the rats should never have been let out of their laboratory. The background graphics, however, are exemplary. Some almost look as if they've been digitised, particularly the flickering fires, which are as convincing as those in Prince Of Persia.

Once again though the game's badly let down by its so-called effects. Samples are what's needed in a game such as this - screams of agony, grunts of effort and all that. Alas, all you get are some standard sound chip noises, which, although they're better than those in many similar games, don't provide the right atmosphere.

You can't ask much more from a platform game than you get from First Samurai, unless it's a pint of lager and a packet of crisps. The game's written by Raff Cecco, and, as you might expect, the gameplay's tuned to the more hardened arcade player - beginners are likely to be frightened off early on. Ten levels is a ridiculously large number to expect you to complete, but if you're up to it you'll have a whale of a time getting through them. The graphics are good, but the effort spent on them hasn't been at the expense of gameplay. The little touches - speed blurs on the sword, the twinkling effect when you're reincarnated - make it evident that a considerable amount of time has been spent on the game's presentation.

But - there's always a but - in the end, at the finish and after all the shouting's over, First Samurai is only a platform game. It doesn't offer the long term addictiveness of something like - to take an extreme - Populous 2, especially if you find it too hard to begin with. So... expecteth not the world, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

1. Animation not quite up to the standard of Prince Of Persia, but it's getting there.
2. If "platform game" makes you think of Magic Pockets, think again. This is no kid's game.
3. "Digitised" look to the graphics might remind you of those in Ninja Spirit.
4. Gameplay not much different to Switchblade 2, Prince Of Persia, or a hundred other platform games. But it's still fun.