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Bloop the dinosaur is an unfortunate little chap. It just so happens that his deadliest enemies the Trogs have taken over the islands of Og on which Bloop resides. Not only this, but Bloop and his pal Spike have a passion for eating Trog eggs which the Trogs obligingly leave lying around outside. This leads to all sorts of hanky-panky as the Dino-mites (!) Bloop and Spike venture into Trog territory to eat the eggs and the Trogs chase after tham with the express intention of gnawing on their lightly cooked flesh. Grab all the eggs on an island and you escape to the next one. Fail and you're treated to a little scene of a Trog slicing up and eating Bloop and Spike!

Trog is very much like a battle version of PacMan. Your small Dino-mite legs it around the islands dodging and biffing the aggressive cavemen and munching their eggs. The going gets a little tougher later on as routes are blocked off with dinosaur bones, meaning teleporters and catapults must be used to reach some parts of the island!

Spike and Bloop might look like a harmless pair of mini Triceratops babies, but they are in fact the Transforming Dinosaurs Of Doom. Munching on a red flower endows our prehistoric heroes with extra speed, allowing them to zoom around the islands faster than Maggie Thatcher in a Westland helicopter, whilst blue mushrooms slow them to a crawl reminiscent of Nicholas Ridley's thought speed.

Eating hot tamales inflames our dino friends with such spiciness that they are instantly capable of spitting fire at Trogs. Best of all, though, is the pineapple. One of these transforms the eater, for a limited period only, into a terrifying Trog-eating Tyrannosaurus Rex!

The Trogs aren't the only ones to get you - there are also the distance cousins of the Trogs who have springy feet to trample all over you, tar pits which appear from nowhere to swallow your personage and spinning wheels launched from underground which spang into you and cause your demise.

It's also a good idea to steer clear of fires and bottomless pits, as falling into either of these is known to be bad for the constitution, as is falling off the edge of the island.

Completing a certain number of levels provides access to any one of three Trog bonus screens. Here, points are scored and Trogs annihilated. The three screens are Trog Feast, in which you are instantly transformed into a Tyrannosaurus and eat as many Trogs as possible within the time limit, Trog BBQ in which you roast loads of Trogs, once again within a time limit, and Diamond Stealing where you have a certain length of time in which to clear the screen of all the Trogs' diamonds, thus earning many points.

Later islands are comprised of several sections, each one fenced off from the other, or even divided by a gaping chasm. There are two ways to cross these. Fences are easily crossed using transporter caves.

These caves have a symbol on them, and your dino is transported to the cave with a matching symbol. This is especially important to remember when you're on an island with up to eight caves! Chasms can only be breached using a catapult. These handy devices lob the spiky ones over the gap - but be careful there's not a Trog patrolling your landing patch!

If you're an NES owners who's been steaming with envy over the Megadrive and Master System Pac-Man games, steam no longer. Trog is really just a Pac-Man variant with a few new bits bolted on to protect it against the lack of variety which was the downfall of the original Pac-Man.

Graphically, Trog is nothing much to speak of, and the sound is also inoffensive. The gameplay is quite fun, with plenty of eating and teleporting action, although you do tend to fall off the edge of the island with no warning when things get hectic. In the end, though, despite all the additions, Trog still lacks enough action and variety to make it really special.

Undoubtedly, it's a great conversion of the coin-op, but only Pac-fans need apply.

I really enjoyed this at first, but the problem is that even though there are three different bonus screens and the playfield layout changes from level to level, the egg-collecting action ultimately becomes dull.

I like the humorous touches in the game roastin' 'n chompin' the Trogs is a hoot - but at the end of the day there's no disguising that Trog is PacMan with extra bits. The challenge level is never very high, and any player with reasonable skills should be able to get huge scores within a few days.

Trog is one of those games that the whole family will love and enjoy. If you're a solo player out for some fast and challenging action, though, look elsewhere.

Presentation 70%
Not many options, but some "hilarious" intermissions.

Graphics 78%
Small sprites, but enough colour to make it jolly.

Sound 73%
None-too-horrific tunes and the effects aren't all that bad either.

Playability 80%
Fast-moving and lots of fun to play.

Lastability 71%
A veritable levels-fest, but the challenge is low and after a while it all becomes rather repetitive.

Overall 74%
A jolly game which provides plenty of short-term fun, but hasn't the variety to sustain interest.