If you have ever fancied yourself as a brickie, you can forget all about the trowel and mortar - just grab a joystick and build away.

In this game, though, you're going to have to build for your life because you're trapped at the bottom of a large hole and someone is throwing bricks at you.

As the deadly bricks rain down on you in the bottom of the hole you must jump onto them and push them around in order to reach the top, But you can only leap one block at a time and you're only strong enough to push a single one, so you have to be acutely aware of what's coming down.

The game can seem easy at first but as you rapidly lose lives it becomes clear that tactics are vitally important. You do not just have to jump to the next highest brick that appears next to you, but must shove them around to form a large, even surface on which you are less likely to get trapped.

Evading the bricks becomes increasingly difficult the higher you get as you have less and less wanting of becoming part of the mortar work under a plummeting red rock.

On each subsequent screen the hole's width decreases and on the third stage an arrow starts eating away at the bricks below you.

Luck plays a part in this game with the random fall of bricks, but even particularly nasty showers of masonry can be avoided if you are quick witted enough.

First impressions are definitely dangerous for this game since its basic scenario makes it look very unimpressive. Once you get playing the game though it is very absorbing and as with many good games, its simplicity is its key to success. Pity about the sound effects though - being hammered into the floor by a hail of bricks deserves a real cacophany of crashing.

The idea behind this game is original, but the graphics are very plain, with only the shapes of the bricks and your man being defined. Animation of your man is limited and rather jerky.

Sound is fairly awful, with only the occasional burst of noise as you meet your end and beeps when your player moves.

If you have ever watched skin appear on custard, you will know how boring this game is. My favourite part was switching off.

An interesting one, this. A good idea badly implemented. I found it rather dull with boring graphics and practically non-existent sound.

The same game idea on a micro with a larger memory would allow for better graphics and sound, and also added features. As it stands though, I have to give Bricks the thumbs down.

First impressions are deceiving with this game. It looks plain, has no dazzling features, but is really quite addictive for a 3.5K game.

The fact that it is so simple is what draws you to it again.