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Old Van Helsing is at it again. The doddery vampire-fighter has put aside his pension book and is off to do battle against Dracula's legions of the undead once more, flinging garlic in all directions like a demented Spanish chef.

This latest round in the struggle between toothless and toothsome comes to us courtesy of European software house Magic Bytes, via our old friends Gremlin Graphics. To all appearances, it's a fairly mundane platform maze game, but ol' Van the Man has one or two tricks up his sleeve which introduce an unexpected strategic twist to the proceedings.

The game is accompanied by rather more atmospheric scene-setting twaddle than usual, bizarrely translated from the original German, which tells us of the unspeakable horrors to come. Among the 'horrible little sods' who lie in wait for Van Helsing are curly-haired 'blond chaps' who approach from behind ('beware the extreme desires of these rotters!'), 'scoundrels' who play at being 'windmills' (?!!), and female demons 'wearing lots of practically nothing'. What is the geezer prattling on about?

Pausing only for an invocation to the powers of light ('Show me the way for my tottering weary feet and all the rest of the old cobblers'), Van sets off on his subterranean quest, loaded up with garlic, mirrors and a crystal ball.

As he trundles along the pathways, climbing up and falling down stairs, stumbling over rocks and bumping into walls, the various sods and rotters try to make life interesting for him. Some - like the gnome, or the guy in the night-dress - merely bump into him, sucking his ever-dwindling blood supply (displayed below the screen). But there's also a weird bloke who waves his arms about (the windmill?) exerting a magnetic pull, and a comical bouncing ogre.

Van can dispel most of the nasties by lobbing half-a-dozen cloves of garlic in their direction, but on the whole it's better to avoid them. Garlic doesn't however cut much ice with the rats which erupt occasionally from the floor, but a well-aimed sandaled foot should kick these into touch.

There is, fortunately, more to Vampire's Empire than this. Every now and then Van catches sight of a thing which looks like a throwback to one of those old Centipede games, but which is, believe it or not, a beam of light. This floats around, bouncing off the scenery, and somehow he's got to get it moving in the general direction of the exit. This is where the assorted glassware comes in handy.

Using the row of icons displayed at the bottom left of the screen, Van can either capture the light in his crystal ball and re-route it, or call up a combination of angled mirrors which he can position in his path, deflecting it around any obstacles or barriers. The idea is that when Van eventually locates the exit block at the east end of the maze, the light beam will follow him there and shine directly onto the block, allowing him to enter the next level.

There are four levels in all, and the light has to be successfully directed through all of them, until Van Helsing can get it shining on Dracula's tomb itself. No easy task. More often than not he'll reach an exit with only a few drops of blood left in his veins, only to see the light scuttling off in the opposite direction or, more likely, entirely conspicuous by its absence.

It's an original variation on what is otherwise standard levels-and-ladders fodder, and that in itself is noteworthy. The graphics are cute and serviceable, sound effects limited but adequate, and once you've got use to the exasperating joystick icon access, the game is sufficiently playable. No great shakes, but hardly, to use Van Helsing's French, a load of old cobblers.