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The title of this game could well lead you to expect a review of a dungeons and dragons adventure, but intrepid adventurers should read no further as Castle Of Gems is an arcade game, and those who spend their leisure hours in the arcades will recognise similarity to a game called Crystal Castles.

Your task is to guide Bertie Bear(!) up and down the stairways and along the walkways and ramparts of a castle, collecting the scattered gems to score points. Naturally there are the usual bunch of meanies who are also scooping up the goodies and, at the same time, exhibiting a strong dislike for a certain small yellow bear. Bonus points are scored for collecting the last gem before the nasties, which I can assure you is not easy.

Guiding Bertie safely around means avoiding the witches, gem gobblers, gremlins and ghosts that inhabit the castle. Deadliest of all are the roaming trees that have an almost uncanny ability to track down Bertie at lightning speed, resulting in a trip to the woods that is certainly no picnic for this teddy. Picture if you will, a bear sprinting along the ramparts of a castle, hotly pursued by four homicidal trees!

When in trouble, you can get your furry friend to step into one of the lifts and be whisked up to another level of the castle, or don the magic hat making him invincible for a short while. Whilst invincible, Bertie can kill off some of the meanies for which bonus points are awarded.

There are eighteen screens to get through, nine on each side of the cassette and all are different configurations of a castle are of quite amazing complexity and this, coupled with the use of excellent sprite graphics, results in a colourful game with plenty of activity and interest.

You may start at any level or get the computer to change levels at random which is quite unusual. Other features include a high score table, keys or joystick option and the ability to switch off the sound.

I have to confess, I am totally addicted to this game since receiving it for review. It really is amusing and fun to play and at the higher levels, provides a real and lasting challenge. My only criticism concerns the use of sound. I felt that the jingles, although good, could have been better to match the quality of the rest of the game. Apart from that, this must be one of the best value-for-money games around for the BBC and deserves to do well, as I am sure it will.

Peter Rochford