Having played through a few times for the Zzap!64 review, the bow is definitely the better weapon than the sword. Furthest reached level 15 with the bow and died mostly due to bad spawns.
I made it to level ten by using the bow and then pivoting to sword and shield at around level 8. But I think I'm going to try just sticking to the bow next time. I've only done three plays so far: 4, 9, and 10.
Does it end, or does it just keep auto-generating until you die?