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Within three seconds of starting play, it's obvious that the programmer of Dragon's Kingdom is a real Ghouls 'n' Ghosts fan. In fact, he's so keen on the game that he's decided to re-write it, take out the snazzy graphics and make it even harder.

To say that DK has been influenced by the famous Capcom coin-op is something of an understatement, but decide for yourself: You control a small blokey who must traverse a scrolling landscape in order to reach and defeat an evil dragon demon called Griffin. Along the way, he has to leap over rocks, climb ladders, cross bridges and jump over gaps. A constant barrage of demonic adversaries do their best to kill our hero, but luckily he has two lives. The briefest encounter with an opponent removes one half-life, but allows him to continue; another touch and it's back to the last restart point, which is briefly displayed on a map of the whole quest.

Your chappie starts his mission armed with an infinite supply of swords which are hurled directly at oncoming enemies. Later on, this is swapped for a battle axe. Now, you don't have any option in selecting this weapon - you can't jump over it and you can't avoid it. And, unfortunately, it's crap. The thing is thrown in a huge arc, neatly avoiding any evil-doers in the immediate proximity.

By now you should be having a cumulative attack of deja vu. True, later levels do deviate from the Ghouls 'n' Ghosts layout, and Genias haven't bothered trying to imitate the huge end-of-level guardians (in fact, there aren't any) but Dragon's Kingdom is a real rip-off.

The golden rule in borrowing (well, stealing) ideas is that you improve upon them but Genias has failed miserably. Poor game design results in alien attack patterns which aren't identical each time you play. Just when you think you've got it sussed, they change the rules, as it were. In a game as tight as this, it means that your learning curve is flattened.

Another zip in the bodybag is the vile control method. You have to hit a clean diagonal to jump and then you can't clear an object if you're standing right next to it. AAARGH!

Combined with distant restart points and ultra-tight collision detection, playing Dragon's Kingdom is ridiculously difficult and incredibly frustrating. The game is only just bearable with infinite lives - it must be bordering on the impossible without. There aren't even any clever visuals or programming tricks to redeem it. It scrolls and there are sprites - it would have looked unimpressive in 1986: these days, it's a bit of a joke.

By now you should have a pretty good idea of what Dragon's Kingdom is like. And if you've got any sense, you'll avoid it as you would a rabid Doberman called Killer standing over a half-eaten body.

1. It's hard, very hard and stupidly hard - in that order.
2. The visuals are merely competent - and that just isn't good enough these days.
3. Small game area is compensated only by severe difficulty.
4. Annoying faults in the game structure, like poor restart points and lack of reliable repeat.
5. Little variation, with no real guardians and few pick-ups.
6. Awful control mechanism - you can't jump over an object if you're standing right next to it.

1. Soundtrack is quite a meaty little number.
2. If you're built of sterner stuff, you might find some reward in this stiff challenge.