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Good heavens - my third French disinterment in as many injuries. This time we're looking at an ex-Infogrames number which (if the back of the box is anything to go by) met with critical acclaim when it first appeared a year or so ago. Well, from Your Amiga and New Atari User at least, whoever they might be.

It allots you the role of a trainee wizard, charged with the task of recovering a load of important spells you've accidentally released.

And thus the scene is set for an unremarkable vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up which will keep you hooked for about as long as it takes to realise that that's what it is. The only feature that in any way commands attention is the enormous and beautifully executed range of spells at your disposal. Baddies can be frozen, burnt, turned to stone... even scared to death.

Someone must have amused himself for hours thinking all those up. It's nice to see the potions/spells/magic idea used for once in a way that doesn't involve huge lists of numbers and action points, but that's about it really.

Slick, eye-catching and playable, but also dull, repetitive and highly switch-offable. Less than essential, basically.