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The era of the combat game continues. This one, based on the coin-op of same name, makes no attempt to challenge in terms of graphics or animation. Instead the emphasis is on all-action gameplay. Pretty successful it is too.

The idea is to progress through five floors of a temple in a bid to rescue a beautiful captive maiden, yawn. Naturally the enemies become increasingly vicious and numerous on each floor. You have to destroy them all using an array of kicks and punches.

What makes the game different is not the range of attacking moves at your disposal - this is pretty limited - but rather the number and variety of the enemies arranged against you. Many of them are destroyed with just one or two kicks or punches and smashing your way through half a dozen in quick succession is somehow much more satisfying than the usual prolonged combat against an individual.

The range of baddies is formidable:

1. Henchmen are the easiest. They approach you like zombies, and if you fail to knock them out with a single blow they will cling to you, sapping your energy.
2. Knife-Throwers take two blows to be killed, and in the meantime you'd better duck or leap over the knives they throw.
3. Falling Vases can be shattered with a single kick, but if you miss, they hit the ground and an indestructible snake crawls out.
4. Dragons will emerge from falling balls unless you can hit the ball in the air.
5. Dwarves can only be hit by a squat kick or punch. They have a nasty habit of somersaulting onto you.
6. Killer Bees attack you at varying heights and must be despatched with an appropriate kick or punch.
7. Guardians. There's just one of these on each floor guarding the stairs to the next.

With all this going on, it's not surprising that the graphics aren't sensational. The characters are all fairly small, and your hero hobbles along with a serious leg injury right from the start. The sound too is fairly rudimentary with not much more than a short rhythmic tune and the odd thwack sounding just a little like the soundtracks of most Kung-Fu films.

Never mind, I enjoyed Kung-Fu Master a good deal, and that's despite being a gentle and peace-loving person.