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Jungle Hunt is an arcade conversion sadly disappointing in almost every quarter as you take on the role of an all-action safari hunter whose trip is rudely interrupted by some distinctly unfriendly natives.

Your travelling companion - described rather cutely as a 'sweetie' - has been abducted by cannibals who aim to put somebody into their stew and you must brave the perils of the jungle to rescue her. You accept this challenge at one of three difficulty levels, each of which gives about eight minutes to complete the task.

The idea is to work your way through four screens which scroll smoothly from left to right, starting in a jungle scene with your man perched on the branch of a tree gazing a little warily at a swinging vine. As there's very little else on the screen and you've got a job to do, you leap on the vine, Tarzan-style, to make your way across a few more with a simple fire-button routine. This stage is tediously simple, even at the hardest setting when the odd monkey tries to knock you from the vine.

After all that exercise comes a welcome dip by diving from the last creeper into a river full of crocodiles which you stab to earn points, though it's easy enough to slip by them if you're a nature lover. The other river hazard is mud which bubbles from the bed and pushes your man slowly to the surface, making him easy meat for the crocs who have no qualms about blood sports. While underwater you must also keep an eye on your air supply and nip to the surface occasionally to take a breath.

The next stage is a hillside with boulders bouncing down, which your man - still full of energy - must jump over or duck beneath before making his way to the final screen. This is the hardest of the lot and involves jumping over the cannibals to save your 'sweetie' who is hanging over a cauldron.

Sounds fine on paper but in play the game is a real yawn. The graphics are weak by Atari standards while the sounds are very poor, particularly at the river stage where the swimming man sounds like a train and his stabbing action is a dead ringer for gunfire.

If I were the hunter I'd leave the 'sweetie' to the cannibals and go home to play Donkey Kong - or even tiddly-winks.