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Mirrorsoft's cute 'n cuddly bomb-detonating hero is just as fab as he was on the C64...

And you think you've got a hard life! It's not all plain sailing being the cutey star of an abstract puzzle game either, you know. I mean - how would you like being green and round with a big black shiny nose? Sounds pretty bad already and that's only the half of it.

Bombuzal (he hasn't really got a proper name either, but we'll call him that) has to cope with all those things and put his life into the hands of some greasy teenager every time the person who owns his game decides to have a go. Aaah, what a shame!

You see, Bombuzal lives in a world made up of loads of platforms and inhabited by nobody at all except himself. Sounds like the recipe for a pretty quiet life but there's just one thing we haven't mentioned yet - bombs. Aargh! Shock! Horror! Ooh!

Yup, Bombuzal falls over them when he gets up and stumbles back to sleep surrounded by them when he goes to bed. He eats, breathes and drinks bombs - and when he's not surrounded by them he blows them up.

And this blowing up bombs business is a whole lot trickier than it looks. For a start, they come in three different sizes and, even worse, they're all on different sorts of platforms. Oh yeah - and the squares that make up these platforms do all sorts of really weird things: some are made of ice, some dissolve when you step on them, others teleport or shoot you sliding off in a totally unexpected directions and we've only mentioned a few!

The whole thing is made even more complicated by the fact that bombs exploding next to each other can cause massive chain reactions though you can sometimes move them around to avoid this using special tracks in the ground. Explode all the bombs and make sure that the square Bombuzal is standing on doesn't get blown up as well and you're pretty clever. Fail and er... well... you're not really, are you?

Yeeha! Well, I did a jig last month to celebrate the arrival of the C64 version of bombuzal so I reckon I'll try belly-dancing for the Amiga one. Er... on second thoughts maybe I won't. Who cares anyway when the whole thing has got more playability than you could stuff a great steaming Thanksgiving turkey with?

In fact, it'll probably last you till Thanksgiving (that's next November, dummy) because you can bet your grandmother's prize marrow, you won't get through all these screens in a hurry.

Unless you can't stand the stight of a really excellent puzzle game (in which case what are you doing reading this - go back to miseryland) raid your piggy-bank and get a load of this.

I may be fat but I know a good game when I see one and Bombuzal is ooh everso fab 'n triff. It's got all the incredibly addictive meplay of the C64 version (120 levels, really fiendish screen layouts and loadsa variety) plus a whole bunch of top-quality Amiga graphics as well.

I mean, when it comes to cutey factor, Bombuzal putting his hands up to his ears to protect them from the sound of the explosions definitely takes the biscuit (Hob Nobs, please).

They could have made a tad-ette more of the sound, though, and the scrolling as a teensy weensy bit jerky so the game doesn't quite exploit the machine's potential to the extent that the Gold Medal C64 version did.

But what are we complaining about - a game as good as this doesn't often come out for just £19.99.

Presentation 93%
Two different perspectives, password system, two-player game, continue play, and option to use joystick or mouse.

Graphics 89%
Cute, cartoony sprites and backdrops, but the scrolling is just a touch jerky.

Sound 80%
Boppy front-end tune and realistic bomb effects - but no in-game music.

Hookability 97%
Simple enough at first to grab you by the scruff of the neck.

Lastability 98%
120 levels should keep you exploding bombs and Bombuzals for ages and ages.

Overall 92%
One of the cutest, cuddliest puzzle games ever.