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Oh my poor fingers! I can hardly type. For the past four hours, my hand has been welded to my joystick in an attempt to get past level 2 of Imhotep.

Egyptology seems to be flavour of the month at Ultimate. Their latest big screen epic casts you in the title rope of the god Imhotep. The poor old Egyptians are starving again and Pharaoh Zoser has appealed to Imhotep, his favourite god, to help them out. (There never actually was a pharaoh called Zoser, Ultimate have obviously invented a fictitious one for fear of being cursed.)

Let's start where I came in at level 2. You find yourself astride what looks like a wild goose, but is no doubt intended to be an ancient mythological bird. Below and behind you scroll the pyramids and plains of the Nile valley a la Revenge Of The Mutant Camels, but not a dromedary in sight. Instead, hordes of Egyptians, also on geese, bent on your destruction. A bit silly really. A battle ensues in which you fire little eggs at each other, at this stage I fancied my chances, but I hadn't reckoned with the Kamikaze squadrons. If you miss these they head straight for you with lightning speed - don't stand a chance.

If you're good you can make your lives last about as many minutes, then you have to contend with raining fireballs as well. Ten thousand points takes you to level three, but the best I managed was a frustrating 9,800.

Imhotep is one of the most difficult games I've ever played, at least in terms of arcade skills. According to Ultimate it doesn't get any easier on the higher levels, so if you're looking for something that's hard to beat this could be it, but otherwise don't expect anything like the quality of their previous releases.