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A nice walk in the country always seems like a good idea, but wandering about in a haunted forest may not be everyone's cup of tea. Such considerations never cross the mind of Dizzy; to him, the haunted forest is the perfect place to find berries, flowers or club-shaped pieces of wood. During an afternoon's exploration, he comes across a mysterious stone slab and, being an inquisitive egg, he clears away the dirt and begins to read the strange inscriptions...

The message tells of the Evil Wizard Zaks - the only thing that brings fear to the heart of our hero - and of a magical potion that could end his reign of fear. Summoning up his courage, Dizzy makes off to save his eggy village folk: when a flask has been filled with potion, it must be dropped next to the evil Wizard, releasing the villagers from his dark presence.

This type of arcade adventure is well-worn on the Spectrum but doesn't suit the C64, and the graphics in Dizzy have strong overtones of the original version. The Dizzy character is a cute wiggling egg, but his cuteness did nothing to inspire me (heartless thing that I am!), particularly as he is difficult to control.

Nicely defined but colourless backgrounds put an end to the "I wonder what the next screen is like" thoughts that usually go with this type of game; consequently, I'd soon had enough.

If this style of game is your cup of tea, then go ahead. It's not mine.

These days, if a flick-screen arcade adventure wants to attract any attention, it needs to be something rather special. Unfortunately, Dizzy fails to produce any advance past the Monty On The Run stage (the main sprite even performs a Monty style somersault!), despite the thinly veiled "Danger Mouse" plot attempting to be humorous.

The graphics have a definite "cute" quality to them, but they lose their appeal after a few screens, since there is very little diversity in style. The feel of the game is marred by an unruly and difficult control system: often the eggy hero flies across the screen, landing in an unexpected position, which makes it hard to judge the correct take-off point.

If there was more variety in the gameplay then Dizzy may have been a very good game, but there isn't, so it's not.

Presentation 41%
Adequate on-screen presentation let down by uncomfortable control.

Graphics 43%
Nicely defined but very little diversity.

Sound 30%
Feeble title tune and few spot effects.

Hookability 54%
Like any arcade adventure, the initial exploration urge is strong.

Lastability 32%
Weak puzzles and lack of variety make returning to the game unlikely.

Overall 48%
Not an awful arcade adventure, just a mediocre one.