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The dearth of decent Amstrad games continues with only the odd game arriving in the office which is worth dusting down the 464 for. Fortunately, Arkanoid: Revenge Of Doh is one of them. Is Imagine the only software house turning out decent Amstrad games these days?

Of course, it's the old, old Breakout/Tonic Tiles/Addictaball/Trazz/Arkanoid 1 formula re-made, re-modelled and re-marketed. But it's still a damn good game worth shelling out for.

The Amstrad version is probably the hardest of all the Breakout clones I've played. It took an eternity to clear the first screen, mainly due to the fact that the first line of bricks had to hit at least three times before disappearing, and that the bat movement was so slow. It was like playing in treacle.

However, once the first line of defence crumbles, things become a little easier.

The weapon capsules come thick and fast, dropping not just singly but in whole clusters, making it difficult to choose which one to go for. I often found I got the right one only to find another capsule dropping onto the bat before I could move away.

These capsules are the normal ones you'd expect from this sort of game, plus a few new ones.

They include: bat enlarger - and one which diminishes its size - lasers, stickability, double bats, multiple balls, etc.

Clear the screen and you're given a choice of the next screen. You can either exit left or right to the next challenge. I don't remember that being available on the first Arkanoid.

With a product such as Arkanoid: Revenge Of Doh, you do know what you're getting before you buy it. The only question is how well it has been done. The answer with this game is very well. Despite some initial reservations about the slowness of the bat, I kept on playing and playing and playing...