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Childhood is supposed to be a happy time, when you learn about life, laughter, love and toilets. If you get abducted, however, and taken to a temple to be raised by warrior priests, you'll probably not have such a Smartie-eating time of it.

This is just what happens to one small child who makes the mistake of being in his crib when a posse of nasty men come baby hunting. They raise the child underground and experiment on him iuuntil he is ready to do their evil bidding. For many years he carries out his masters' wishes and terrorises the land. Then one day, among all the usual condemned men, he spots his long long father and his memory returns to him in a flash. Now the warrior is out for revenge and this time the battle is on his terms.

Set in a mystical land chock full of large numbers of bizarre beasts, Shadow Of The Beast is a multi-level beat-'em-up played entirely with the joystick. Your mission is to fight your way through the levels of the temple until you can confront the Beast and take your revenge on him.

Initially the only weapons you have at your disposal are your hands and feet, more than a match for most of the creatures you encounter on your journey. To punch a creature simply press the fire button; to perform a flying kick hold the joystick in an upwards diagonal direction and press Fire.

Besides all the creatures between you and the Beast, there are traps set into the man-made structures, the ground and tress usually only discovered after they sap your precious energy.

Psygnosis have a solid reputation for creating games with, if I may make so bold, bodacious and, not to put too fine a point on it, stonking graphics. Shadow Of The Beast is no exception. The title screen and the inter-level static screens are of exceptionally high quality.

The backdrops which shift along with the parallax scroll show mountain ranges and clouds on the top levels. The warrior himself is a large detailed sprite and the creatures which are out to stop him are enormous and vicious looking. The game includes some of the largest sprites ever to appear on the ST, and all in all it's a visual feast of impressive impressiveness.

There is however a problem with the animation. The parallax scrolling is far from smooth; the clouds judder rather than glide. The creatures which the warrior encounters are badly animated as well, especially when they try to walk.

An extremely high quality sample on the loading screen sets the eerie atmosphere for the game. The sound effects for the creatures are standard, although this enables you to concentrate on gameplay.

Shadow Of The Beast offers a considerable challenge to the ardent ST games player. Puzzles require considerably more though than most beat-'em-ups, and the game has a much longer shelf life than other slice-'n-dice games.

The game requires fast reflexes to better the creatures. Moreover, rather than relying on one standard timing for lashing out at a creature, the game has been weighted so that considerable judgement is required. The problems with the scrolling don't interrupt gameplay to any great extent but they shouldn't occur on a game such as this, especially when much lesser games manage a fluid scroll.

The whole package is professional and addictive, and it does require some effort to complete. But Shadow Of The Beast still feels as if it's lacking that something extra which would make it a superb, rather than just a very good, game.