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So what if a game is being released this month by the name of The Last Ninja, no-one is really naïve enough to think this will stop companies flooding the market with karate games.

You are a trainee Samurai under the guidance of supreme master Chu-yu. With his help you must pass a series of tests. If you pass, you will be made a Samurai warlord, which is Chinese for a mean son-of-a-bitch.

The game is set out in to three beat-'em-up style sub-games, karate, kendo, and Samurai. Being a Gremlin game you probably can expect millions of options... you are right. After deciding whether you wish to read the instructions in German, French or possibly Spanish (for those of you rushing off to the Costa del-crowded in August) you then are asked if you wish to have a little practice. You don't, so as usual it's straight in at the deep end.

Game one is Karate, and if you were the coward who chose to practise, you just continue fighting to your heart's content, but if you chose to play a full game, things are not so simple. You are first asked to choose one of the five opponents, then are shown a chart with skill, speed, strength and stamina displayed on it, you have five points to allocate between the four methods. The idea behind this is to use the points wisely to counter your opponents' method of combat.

After spending a few minutes (and hours) negotiating that last problem, you must then decide how to train for the bout. There are twelve types of training, from which you must choose three. You go from the normal workout stuff like running to the more eastern ones such as 'Makiwara' which is sweet and sour pork for shadow boxing.

Then it's down to the fighting, the characters are large and bright. But do not have the clarity or the animation of late-greats such as Fist. To win a bout, you must fight the computer ten times and then let the computer decide the winner in true Hagler Vs. Leonard style. That is unless you can deplete and kill him, when this is done the supreme master will decide whether or not you are good enough to go on to the next stage which is...

Kendo, a form of Samurai sword-fighting with bamboo sticks. The procedure is the same as karate except that the game is extremely similar to Melbourne Fighting Warrior.

If you complete Kendo, you are now ready for the final test, the test of Samurai! Choose an opponent and cross-swords till death (cue cries of Wow!) You must fight and heartlessly kill four opponents before you can obtain the title of undisputed Samurai warlord.

Samurai Trilogy is nice on the eyes in every way, holding up Gremlin's immaculate presentation record. But its record lies in the fact that it is far too nice on the hands. In short, it doesn't have enough action to be a successful beat-'em-up. Yet another release that isn't full of Eastern promise.