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The forces of evil are at it again - striding about in black robes doing deep booming laughs and being unpleasant to small children and animals. What do the good and righteous dudes do? Get the roughest, toughest, don't-know-the-meaning-of-fear merc, give them tactical strike aircraft and let them loose? No chance, instead it's up to four decidedly weedy adventurers to keep the world a safe and better place by wandering around holes in the ground being set upon.

Knightmare takes every cliche from RPGs and Dungeons & Dragons games and does it all again. Forget all the wibble about the TV program - it's a straightforward clone of the famous Dungeon Master.

Your band of merry people wander - and occasionally run like the clappers - around a dungeon, grubbing around for keys and food. You are thrown in at the deep end without any victuals, weapons or even clothes. After a quick train ride you find yourself in a dark forest. Root around and you find yourself some kit. Although tee-shirts and bouncy balls might not be your first choice, luckily find a peashooter in the first quest along with some magic wands. After a while, the game develops into the usual explore-and-bash sequence. The puzzles are generally easy and the punch-ups not do. The dungeon master character gives you plenty of helpful hints, so ignore those and get killed a few times before following them like all real heroes.

There are four quests to complete on the way to defeating evil Lord Fear - even hardened players are going to find it difficult. The method of using objects is a little awkward at first and it's easy to get confused during a fight and pick something up rather than use it.

The graphics are detailed and colourful - almost too detailed. Objects can be hard to spot against the backgrounds - you find yourself peering at the monitor from a few inches away, trying to figure out what things are supposed to be. The sound effects are the usual samples that suit the atmosphere well - grunts, clangs and screams.

Everyone's going to think it, so let's just come straight out with it. This game is like Dungeon Master, only not as good. The similarities are abundant, although nothing is bettered. The emphasis leans too heavily towards combat and away from problem solving - you can easily get stuck into rounds of punch-ups. It's not too easy at first and those uninitiated in the world of orc-mangling and key-finding might find it hard going at first.

It's well put together and playable enough, but there's nothing new here. Aficionados of the genre are no doubt going to love the prospect of another tortuous maze filled with monsters to beat and bash. Those who haven't entered the dungeoneering world are in for a treat - not an original one, but a treat nevertheless.

1. Captive, without the technology.
2. Dungeon Master is more playable but has less atmospheric graphics.