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Ever since the first computer programmer made light move around a screen, there's been a race to find a new concept that's "more difficult and absorbing than chess". ImageWorks, Bombuzal doesn't aspire to this lofty ideal but it does come across as being a combination of Chess, Play-Doh and one of those Chinese number puzzles.

Like most difficult puzzle games it's based on a very simple idea. The only objective is to move a wobbly monster around a series of tiled sections, exploding bombs by stepping on them and staying in one piece in the process - but bombs setting each other off in chain reactions and tiles disappearing under your feet make this a sight more difficult than it first appears.

Each screen is made up of a number of different types of tile, and you can bet your life that you'll be in deep trouble if you don't watch where you're stepping. Normal tiles are safe enough, but the Dissolver does just that after you've stepped over it and the Ice Tile is a little too slippery and should be avoided. Other hazards include the Teleport tile which whisks you to a random square and the Spinner type which knocks you in any direction. A few tiles, such as the Temple (which absorbs explosions), the bomb-moving Slot, the indestructible Rivetted tile and the map-resetting Switch can be used to your advantage, but don't depend on them showing up too often.

The bombs also come in many shapes and sizes - each type has a different effect which almost always has to be taken into account if a screen is going to be completed. Small bombs only destroy the square that they occupy, while medium and large bombs destroy four and twelve surrounding squares respectively. Then there are three varieties of aerial bomb, which explode when any other aerial bomb is detonated and cause exactly the same amount of damage as their 'normal' counterparts. Swell bombs change size randomly and mines detonate on contact... phew! There's not a lot of time to stop and admire the scenery in this environment.

To make matters worse you don't even have any privacy in this odd little world. A couple of other characters knock around on later levels and if you think that they're there to help you out then think again. 'Bubble' treats all bombs as mines (and you can imagine the trouble which that causes), while 'Squeak' is capable of doing anything that you can and does his level best to get in the way.

As if all this wasn't difficult enough, the exasperatingly precise joystick/mouse control adds to the difficulty and the supposedly helpful 3D option only causes more problems than it solves. So who can you blame all of this infuriation on? Well, the programming was done by The Bitmap Brothers, but they were aided and abetted by a number of famous screen designers including Andrew Braybrook, Jeff Miner, Ubik and Jon Ritman, so you take your pick from that lot.

This is more of a mindbender than a thumb-twister because once you've solve a level once it shouldn't prove to be a problem any more. If you were the type who enjoyed showing how you could solve Rubik's cube in a fraction of a second then this is just the brain-teaser you've been waiting for - if not, prepare to lose a lot of sleep and a lot of hair.