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Robin Hood's daily grind of deer hunting, tax inspector baiting and robbing the editors to give to the freelance contributors is rudely shattered when the evil dastard, Wogan the Sheriff of Nottingham, ensnares the fair Maid Marian and locks her in the East Tower of Nottingham Castle. Sherwood Forest 0, Nottingham Forest 1.

She will only be released when Robin surrenders, or King John sends a 747 with heavy arms and a cake. Cakes are out, so it's up to that medieval macho man, Robin, to do the business.

Pausing only to snatch a quiverful of arrows from Ronnie the fletcher, Robin (I quote) "sets out through Sherwood Forest to Nottingham Castle to free his love, oblivious to the inevitable dangers that lie before him".

Ignoring the fact that if he really is oblivious to roomfulls of soldiers, pikestaffs and longswords he's soon going to be at a dead schloss, we can see that true love is once again running as smooth as a hedgehog on heat.

Once in the castle the fun begins. The Sheriff's fortress has a large number of interconnecting rooms, with platforms on various levels linked by ladders. Robin can scurry up and down the ladders, along the platforms and on the various mechanical lifts that are dotted about.

These only work occasionally, and Robin needs to get to the right key to start them up. Other bits of platform float through the air, vanish or spin in empty space. Still, everybody knows that Sherwood is renowned for its peculiar species of magic mushroom. Could explain the merry men...

In an amazing amalgam of microgame mantraps there are the fireball from Donkey Kong, the spiders from Centipede, the rats from 3D Tunnel and the infrastructure from Any Platform Game You Care To Mention (Manic Miner, for example),

Should Robby fall foul of any of these his energy supply will be depleted until at zero he becomes an ex-archer (wrong game).

And to restore his flagging fury, the Sheriff has left little pills around the place - gets more suspect by the minute.

Rumours that Sheriff Wogan is in fact Dr Christian Barnaard in drag are strengthened by the large number of hearts left decorating the fort. And they're still beating.

Robin has to collect these cardiac components before attempting to spring the maiden. There are other arrowsmiths around to do a bit of thwarting, but Green Robbo can dodge their deadly darts and prang them with his inexhaustable supply of shafts.

Little decorations abound - a skeleton in manacles here, a suit of armour there. But Robin's got no time to admire the tasteful decor - there's a female to save. Here we go, here we go, here we go...

Another fine Codemasters cassette insert. Notable for the complete absence of the adjective "Brilliant" (there is an 'Incredible', but let's forgive them that), it has a truly terrific picture of a bare-chested, blond-maned Robin with a stomachful of billiard balls dragging Maid Marian away from an ominous castle.

He's even got a sweatband (albeit in Lincon Green) and two ammo pouches on his belt. Still, there is a longbow, but he looks most uncomfortable without a carbine and grenade launcher.

The words themselves start off with WELCOME TO LEGENDARY TIMES OF ROBIN HOOD and get worse.

For a platform game, it's OK. But I've seen better.

I have to admit it I love platform games. They may be a bit passé now but I'm not fashion conscious enough to worry about that.

Robin Hood is Blaggeresque with it's moving floors. I liked the tune - even if it annoyed the rest of the office.

The speech is adequate, all together a jolly little game and one for the maze mappers.

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen, Robin Hood, Robin Hood with his merry men - funny, I didn't see any of them.

Only the Sheriff of Nottingham's henchmen were around, busily trying to keep Brave Robin away from fair Marian.

But Brave Robin, undaunted by the odds, battles bravely on, firing arrows at the enemy and ducking their replies, climbing countless ladders, avoiding Giant Spiders and jumping jauntily over crawling nasties.

The animation's nice, and the falls really bonesplintering. And when you lose (as you invariably do the first 5746 times you play the game) a gutteral voice gives you a few words of comfort.

Actually I thought the voice was rather well done. Nothing spectacular, but an enjoyable game.