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Another budget label game from Blue Ribbon, Diamond Mine 2 not surprisingly carries on the scenario set in their earlier game. This is - surprise, surprise - a diamond mine, but one with more to collect, more problems to overcome and quite a bit more "stickability factor".

Actually, I wasn't over-impressed for quite some time, and only came back to load it in again because I found I had a review to write. Then I found I hadn't read the instructions on the cassette inlay properly. I had been trying to guide my vacuum cleaner pipe down through the mine, collecting diamonds, but my lives went quickly because the various monsters kept touching the pipe.

Then I read that RETURN would retract the pipe, and the game altered completely!

It was now a frustrating, but possible, assignment to collect all the diamonds from one level, on occasions having to retract a long length of pipework as a monster appeared near the top of the screen. Still, there was always the revenge of sucking it up in the vacuum for some bonus points.

The direction keys can be used in conjunction, so corners could be negotiated simply and swiftly, but that didn't make the game any easier to win.

Should the pipework clear a screen, a harder mine soon appeared and after ten such, the screens become invisible. However, I will have to take Blue Ribbon's word for that as I've not got there yet. But I'll keep playing until I do!

Phil Tayler