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Originally released by Romik at a considerably higher price and quite some considerable time ago, Dickie's Diamonds is an odd sort of game seemingly inspired by the old arcade game Amidar. It's a sort of rub-'em-out where you have to go over the white lines of a maze and turn them all black.

You take the role of Dickie the Owl and you've got to collect diamonds from the maze - well, it's not really a maze but a web which a spider (!) draws out at the beginning of each screen and every time you lose a life (aargh)! This spider trucks about after you and is fatal to touch; he also rubs out all the good work you've done.

Luckily you can move faster than him so it isn't too hard to cover the web. If you do manage to do so then the web will collapse, quite splendidly, and the diamond in the centre of it will drop to the floor for you to pick up. Any web that you've previously turned black cannot be walked over again and so it must be flown over (something owls seem quite good at). Each time Dickie does this, it costs him a 'flight' and he only has a limited number. The number of flights available decreases with each increase in level and when Dickie can fly no longer then unfortunately it's just tough luck and he'll end up at the mercy of Stephen, the ferocious spider, if he's not careful.

That's it really; screen after screen of the same web with nine speeds and later two spiders on the web to challenge you (Stephen's friend, Cecil comes to help). There are some options to change the game slightly though, such as infinite flights and being able to start on other levels. Also, any high scores attained can be saved to tape for loading at a later date.

This game is so old and crusty I couldn't believe it. How the software company expect to sell this at its price when you can now buy much better budget software for the same price I just don't know. The sound's pretty grotty, the graphics worse and the less said about the game, the better.

If this was a C&VG listing then OK, not bad and it works, but as a properly marketed game I didn't think it was on.

I quite liked this game when it first appeared early last year. Trouble is, that was a long time ago and with the way software has improved since then... well, Dickie's Diamonds has aged considerably. I confess to having a couple of enjoyable games on playing for the first time in ages, but nothing more, since there isn't really much in the way of variation and the whole thing is rather dated. Even though this oldie has been re-released at a budget price it doesn't really match the quality current budget range.

Okay, so the graphics are pretty basic looking, and the game is based on an old one, a sort of 'painter' type, and it's true that you aren't probably going to play it forever, and there is more exciting software at the price around now, but I still enjoyed a few games and I suspect others will too. There are always new young computer owners coming along, and Dickie's Diamonds is not a bad starter game.

Presentation 55%
Good instructions (with hints) and options but annoying delay as Stephen draws a web each time.

Graphics 31%
Animation sparse, colour poor.

Sound 51%
Reasonable version of Fugue.

Hookability 39%
A few plays and that's about it.

Lastability 23%
Nine levels - if you can stand playing it for that long.

Value For Money 42%
Not much for the hardened player; better for youngsters.

Overall 22%
Better games available for the price.