Shamus is a lovable little guy of a kind that you just don't expect to see in computer game characters. He's tiny, wears a broad-brimmed hat and has a purposeful, plodding walk - kind of a computerized Columbo without the cigar. He chases a variety of evil baddies through a series of mazes and secret rooms in his attempt to seek and destroy the shadow.


Shamus starts his journey in a tunnel which leads to one of 32 different rooms in each of four different levels (a total of 144 rooms). The baddies are whirling drones, robo-droids and snapjumpers, and if one of them touches or shoots Shamus, he loses a life. Fortunately, Shamus starts with five lives and can earn extras by touching a genie's bottle, which appears fairly often. You also lose lives when Shamus plods into a wall.


You can earn extra points by having Shamus touch a question mark when you find one and you can collect four different colored keys. Each key fits a like-colored keyhole, unlocking a door into the next level.


Shamus is armed with ion-shivs which you throw by using the trigger button on the joystick: the unthinking baddies obligingly keep grouping and getting in the way of your shivs, so with a little practice, you can get through all of them to get to your genie bottles, questions marks, keys and keyholes.


The object of the game is to reach the evil Shadow's lair and destroy him... Easier said than done. To remind you that he's around, the Shadow appears every so often, but Shamus can't kill him - he can just stun him long enough to run to the next room.


The game's graphics are superb and there are so many variations and twists and turns in the plot and storyline that it doesn't look as if it could ever get boring. But don't expect to master it the first time you load it into your machine. Practice is the catchword. Lots of practice.


Watch for playing weaknesses of your various opponents. They're not all that hard to beat. Also, keep track of the different rooms in each level. It's easy to get lost and end up going in big circles.