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The platform games around at the moment can easily be divided into two groups - those which have carefully thought-out screens and characters, and those which have been thrown together to satisfy the addicts. Contraption makes it into the first group without any effort.

Mode 1 graphics have been opted for, giving more clearly-defined characters than you are likely to see elsewhere. The whole screen is used too, not just a small box somewhere in the middle of a black void. So many games squash the display down to gain vital bytes that to see a full-sized screen is a very welcome surprise.

The plot is fairly standard. Collect the apples, avoid the nasties, jump on the platforms and away you go. The huge variety of those nasties and the large range of platforms - some stationary, some moving, some disintegrating - is quite something when you think about just how little memory the authors had to play with. I think they have every reason to be very proud of their creation.

The music is unsophisticated (to say the least) and the 'tune-off' key was particularly welcome. There is the usual pause/restart option and demonstration mode which gives you a glimpse of the ten different screens, some of which you will pass through more than once.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the game is the velocity at which our hero marches along. If you are the impatient type you will enjoy racing through the screens of Contraption. Even with this speed, however, movement is very smooth - in short, the graphics are a joy. Contraption is a very polished piece of software and if any game is to keep the platform theme alive then this is probably the one that can do it.