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Jack is back! No he isn't, it's Wonderboy, now Wonderteen racing through city centres, buying weapons and stabbing people. What happened?

I'll tell you what happened. Boy put on a lot of weight and also didn't grow. And his world has got a lot smaller, thanks to the progression of quadternary industry. What this means is that on screen, Wonderboy is as wide as he is tall and things like score and lives counters have been placed on large computer screens that run along the top and left-hand edges of the screen, cutting the playing area down considerably.

As far as I can make out, all boy really has to do is travel from town to town killing everything he finds. Simple. Now and again he'll come up against someone unpleasant like a VAmpire of Death and have to kill themin order to collect the key for the next town or a special weapon such as a broadsword.

Along the way you can also buy objects, like boots that increase your jumping capability. Or magical weapons such as grenades, or a whirlwind that you launch at your adversaries. All this costs money, and to get money you have to kill all the little baddies and collect the gold they drop.

I loved the original Wonderboy with that certain special kind of love that means you can't leave somebody. I kept playing it and playing it long after I'd completed it. Now its sequel has appeared I can't help but feel disappointed with the way it has turned out.

For a start, the graphics are poor. Many of the characters are short and stumpy, whilst the backdrops seem to have been nicked from Boulderdash. The scrolling is slow and jerky - this game shows little of the visual excellence of its predecessor.

It plays terribly too. Because of the slowness of the game, it's far too easy. You have ages to time a swing at a bad guy, and the chances of them hitting you are a million to one.

Not the hottest conversion around.