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Just when you thought that the platform games had got too stale and boring to be of any further interest, along comes Addictive Games (remember their semi-cult Football Manager?) to breathe new life back into the cliches.

This machine code game for both BBC and Electron offers all the usual friendly facilities - hi-score table, sound option, pause option and the familiar Z/X/Return keys for left/right/jump.

The basic aim is simple - get from one cave to the next by routes which, although studded with traps, are quite obvious. Your little scientist character (Professor Boffin, of course!) has to destroy all the unlucky horseshoes on the way before touching a resident owl who allows access to the next level. So far, so predictable.

What makes the game fun is both the means of destroying horseshoes (with an umbrella of all things) and the ablity to float down from platform to platform using the raised umbrella as a parachute. Tripods and petri-dishes are also up for grabs as well as the now common time bonuses. Trampolines are a great way of getting over some obstacles and I spent some time on one screen just enjoying the technique before the call of further caverns drew me on.

Interesting to see the original version of Boffin here as well - good value too with 25 caverns in Boffin 2 and another 20 in Boffin. In short, a good game with lots of fun features. Addictive - but then it would have to be, wouldn't it?

D.R.