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Comic Bakery has you taking the part of a pot-bellied chef in a bun-fight with a band of rascally racoons.

Bakery products move along the conveyor belt and tumble off the end into a lorry. The racoons run along the factory floor flipping the on/off levers with their tails and stopping the flow of goodies. Others run along a platform above the furnaces and dangle their tails down, sweeping cakes off the belt.

The playing area is about three screen-widths in length, and a scanner shows the state of the furnaces and position of the croissants as they move along the belts, so you can quickly identify bottlenecks, even if they're off-screen.

Dealing with the racoons on the floor involves giving them a quick blast from a spray gun and kicking them out of the way. The ones on the platform above can be immobilised by jumping up and spraying them simultaneously.

Whenever a furnace is switched off you must run to the switch and turn it on again by moving past it. The spray-gun only holds a limited number of charges, but will recharge itself slowly if you run out. You have three lives which are lost by bumping into the beasts.

There's a clock at the top of the screen which counts rapidly through the 9-to-5 working day. At 5 o'clock the hooter goes and a bonus is awarded according to how many cakes you've got in the lorry. Then it's back to the joystick for another day's work.

There's some lively music while you play, and the graphics are attractive. Megazappers may find the game a bit tame - after all you don't exactly die of fright when you see a racoon swiping croissants - but for my money it's original, entertaining, and one of the better MSX games.

Large, chunky graphics adorn the playing screens in this baker's nightmare and there's no lack of colour.

A tuneful little ditty plays at the beginning of each game, whilst little blips here and there indicate your ovens going on and off. I loved the way the baker kicked snoozing racoons off the screen and his little visit to the shop after each day's work.

There is nothing to laugh at in Comic Bakery, because it is all tough work. You really have to rush about to keep those kids happy as everything is working against you.

My only reservation is that there may not be much of a lasting challenge since you are only lifting levers and freezing racoons.

Very original and very enjoyable. The baker is a charming figure, even if he is a little overweight. The racoons are very nasty, particularly on higher levels where they start jumping up and dodging your very limited supplies of spray.

The game is just difficult enough to keep you at it, and certainly had me hooked.