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The scenario for Aztec Challenge is 1500 AD. You've been sentenced to death, but have one chance to escape. If you don't want to end up as the next sacrificial victim to the Sun God, you'll have to have a go at meeting the challenge.

There are seven levels, each with its own problems. Obviously you have to get as many individual achievements as possible and lose as few lives as you can. You can score ten points for each achievement and if you ever reach the outside without losing a single life, there are 1,000 points - lose four lives and that's reduced to a paltry 200.

You get five lives to start with, but if you lose them all you simply have to start again - so what happened to the death penalty?

This is a joystick-only game and has a two-player option.

The seven levels involve rather different scenes, the first being the Gauntlet, where two rows of spear-toting Aztecs will try to nail you before you can make it to the temple. I went on here for a long time and was beginning to feel it was all a bit too difficult. Then, as the music changed, the temple grew nearer and a door appeared, I was completely hooked.

Next came the stairs up the face of the temple which you have to climb. It's not an easy task since stone blocks keep falling on you. To actually enter the temple you have to get through a long hallway as fast as possible. Just to add a bit of interest to this stage, spears or stones are likely to plunge into your cranium from the ceiling, spiked traps suddenly rise from the floor, or trapdoors open before you. This is where most players will peak out for a long, frustrating time. It's far harder than it sounds and as soon as you've cleared one danger, another appears - there's no respite.

Should you reach the dungeon, you'll no doubt have a laugh or two over the vermin. It's not a good idea to let the beasts bite you. To get out of the temple your task is to cross the tiles, hopping from one to another, to reach the door out. Next come the piranha in a lake which you're bound to attempt to cross, whence onto the bridge and even then you're still not free. There are another three phases and I got nowhere near level seven.

Aztec Challenge has excellent colour graphics, good sound and it's the sort of game that keeps you wanting to go back to it to better your score - let alone get through the lot successfully. It's a refreshing change and a novel idea compared with many games at the moment.