Graphically, Monster Munch is superb. Colour has been liberally used and there's no colour clash. Your ogre character is suitably chunky and ugly even if he isn't animated particularly.

There's even a large, well animated enemy that thunders across the screen Again, it's suitably revolting and fits in perfectly with the game. The presentation also has some nice touches, with large scrolling text and an animated introduction.

Other than that, it's deathly dull.

So what's wrong with it? My definition of an interesting and fun game involves you actively participating in in a task which has challenging elements to it. With Monster Munch you've certainly got to complete a challenging task. Notice me not mentioning 'fun'.

The witch you work for has you off buying ingredients for spells. To do this you have to walk across the multi-coloured landscape. You can only move from left to right, through an undetermined number of screens. And on a personal note, I really hate games which start at level zero. I mean, come on. Why? What's the point?

Do developers think that it adds something to a game by grading levels that low? Why not go one step further and start at -1? By starting at level zero it automatically demotivates me as when you complete a level, you'd normally expect to move onto level two. But with Monster Munch, you're actually going to level one. And that says to me that I've completed the first level yet I'm still at the beginning. I'm digressing, so on with the remainder of the review.

You have three main obstacles which could prevent you from completing this task (other than boredom). First off is a little shuttle pod which will move across from either side of the screen.

You can jump over the shuttle pod, providing you get enough notice. The only issue is that the pod usually comes at you when you're almost at the right-hand portion of the screen so you've not got a chance to jump over it. And then you lose some of your precious energy.

The 'large, well animated sprite' I referred to earlier is the second obstacle. It's a big purple monster which does thunder across the landscape. The screen has a 'shake' effect which is a nice touch. The monster takes a good dozen or so shots to kill it. Which, like jumping over the shuttle pod, isn't enough. So you lose more energy.

The last obstacle is a tube attached to the ceiling of the caverns. It fires out red plasma blobs which erratically fall down. They're reasonably easy to avoid though they can get in the way when you're jumping over shuttle pods and the like.

And then you've got to take your chances with the 'lucky' pots. These pots contain bonus points, or energy boosters or decreasers. They all look the same. So you collect it just in case it gives you more energy. You do this because when you do complete a level your energy levels don't return back to full strength.

Whilst the landscapes look suitably pretty, there's no variation in what you can do. You just walk (or jump) from left to right. There aren't any platforms you can climb up, there's no doorways you can walk through. Pools of water or other natural obstacles are also conspicuous by their absence. Very dull indeed.

So by starting the game, you're not really setting out to complete a task. You're in essence wasting some time because there's no opportunity for you to complete the game. Your energy slowly but surely drains away. And then that's it,

As originally-produced covertape games go, Monster Munch looks good but that's it. As useless as Vatman is, it's still at least ten times more fun than this.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.