It was inevitable, once computer games became big business, that some developers would see if they could find a way to introduce sex into the gameplay, to make a few quick bucks. But the history of erotic games has been dismal, ranging from the fumbling adolescent Leisure Suit Larry through German porn star Lula to the more recent Singles, whose sole reason for existence was to push The Sims into the bedroom.

Now Digital Jesters has released another quasi-Sims spin-off which focuses on the seven deadly sins of sloth, wrath, gluttony, envy, greed, pride and of course lust. The premise is that your 'hero' has to make his mark in the decadent Apple City by using his avarice, libido and ambition to work his way to a position of power and influence.

To do this he essentially flatters women to the point where they will either buy goods and services (you begin as a lowly sales clerk in a classy version of John Lewis) or give you money, or you can have money stolen from them. Influential men can also be flattered and manipulated to advance you or pay you and each of the seven sins are acted out in a different scenario, ranging from a night club to a fetish club to a large business.

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Make no mistake, most of the gameplay revolves around trying to arouse a potential female 'victim' to the point where she'll have sex with you. The way it works is that our man walks up to a (frequently large-chested) lady and tests out a number of questions on her based on what he knows of her profile. With every right choice the libido bar increases through five stages (from first contact to full-on passion) but every wrong question makes you slip back.

In addition you have to monitor your desire, stress and irritation levels which are influenced by the reaction of the other characters - when they exceed the limit you go berserk and suffer a major setback to your plans. The way to bring the levels down is to engage in a number of mini-games (twenty in all) which include urinating on flies in the toilet, counting sheep before they explode, trying to avoid groupies seeing you in your underpants, peeking at women in changing rooms and trying to find safe places to vomit.

Yes, this is a game for lager louts, where peaking up skirts and down cleavages as well as fighting with bouncers and slapping people's faces is the norm. Yet once the initial giggling is over the game rapidly loses its allure as it's almost impossible to play for more than a few minutes without endlessly repeating the same moves and mini-games. Also, you can't move to the next location until you've finished the last and the same irritating music plonks away in the background.

The 3D graphics are about the most impressive feature but surprisingly for a game that's built on the premise of frequent sexual conquests, even when such action does occur the couple manage to keep some of their clothes on at all times. In the end, if you're after that sort of thing you'd do better to download one of the many Sims patches that let you see your characters totally in the buff. 7 Sins is more of a dirty joke behind the bike-sheds.

Slightly more ambitious than previous adult computer games with better than average graphics, but this still fails to deliver what it promises while managing to be both irritating and repetitive at the same time.