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Returning home from the Tormanian wars, Torvak is looking forward to a nice rest and a family reunion. Instead he discovers his village in ruins and his family doing extremely good impressions of dead people. Not one to dwell on life's little hardships, he decides the only course of action left open to him is revenge. So - double edged blade on shoulder and whistling the suitably fear-inducing song "Una Paloma Blanca" - he sets off to find the cause of his troubles, Necromancer.

Along the way he must complete five levels - from village, swamp and mountains to jungle and finally to the castle - each harder than the one before. He's immune to large falls, but not to drops off the edge of waterfalls, and there's the predictable troop of monsters to beat. On the first level he encounters charmers like Killer Wasps, Poisonous Caterpillars and Giant Maggots. These, however, seem positively tame compared to the Rat Man on the next level, the Rockmen on the third, the female warriors in the jungle and the Necromancer in the castle.

You control Torvak entirely with the joystick: move it up and he jumps; press the Fire button and his weapons do their stuff. He starts off with a double-headed axe but can pick up a broadsword, a warhammer and a ball and chain. These useful toys are usually to be found at the ends of sections on any level, and there are other goodies to be had by hacking at grave stones or statues. Armour reduces damage from aliens and comes in either silver or gold, with the gold offering better protection. Speed-ups, energy orbs, treasure and power ups are scattered throughout the levels, along with magic spells to harness the power of whichever weapon he's holding at the time.

Graphically, Torvak is very standard. The backdrops are well drawn but are largely under-whelming. Torvak himself looks suitably Conan-like and is animated convincingly, but the creatures in the game don't move very well at all. The Goblins you meet on any level, for example, shuffle around as if they're just been given a suppository applied with a pneumatic drill. Sound is extremely average, although the loading tune is much better than the usual internal chip fodder.

The big sprites in Torvak are preferable to the usual centimetre high blobs, but that doesn't make the game original. There are some annoying features which can seriously hamper your progress - for instance, you can't use your weapons fast enough to cleanly kill some opponents, especially those that require two or three hits.

Torvak is a standard walk around and kill the weirdies game which beats more than a passing resemblance to Rastan and Double Dragon II. If you're incurably addicted to platform games then Torvak might be worth a look, but otherwise go out and rent Conan The Barbarian from your local video shop.