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I thought I could probably review this one without actually playing it (as certain computer magazines do, hem-hem no names mentioned.) So let's give it a go and see how it comes out.

"Heeeeey! It's that whacky egg-shaped loon Dizzy, the ovoid oddity who's always getting into zany scrapes. Join him in the third Dizzy adventure, sequel to the Oliver Twins' Dizzy and Treasure island Dizzy, as he searches for lots of bits of something hidden throughout dozens of crazy loopy backgrounds. Pick things up! Put them down! Avoid things! Jump over things! And do it before the timer runs out, or you'll be a scrambled egg. Richard Darling sez it's tremendous!"

Well now, let's see how close we got. Yes, Dizzy's in it, but so are the rest of the Yolk Folk family. Daisy, Denzil, Dylan, Dozy and GrandDizzy, each of whom has a whacky, zany personality of his (or her) own. You'll meet them scattered throughout the game, and they'll give you helpful hints and items. Yes, it's full of zany scrapes. Dizzy's tying to rescue Daisy from the clutches of the evil wizard, and has to adventure his way through the Fantasy Land to find her.

Yes, you can pick things up and put them down, using a Magic Knight-type interactive menu system, and you can use objects to solve puzzles like impassible flames, locked doors, crocodile-infested rivers and the like. But there's no timer. Oh, and Richard Darling says it's "fantastic", not "tremendous".

Dizzy is his old lovable self, scuttling along the ground and spinning through the air like an Edwina Curry reject. The backgrounds are nice and colourful, there are big objects like food, (drink, coins and tools to pick and there are nice little touches of animation like rippling streams and flickering flames.

So Dizzy III, Fantasy World, is very much the same menu; as before; but there's more of an interactive adventure element to it than usual. For instance, on the opening screen, you pick up an apple, put it down in front of the troll guarding a door, and you get a series of dialogue boxes; "Ooh, for me, how generous, I'd like to let you through the door but the king would torture me. But you can use that jug of water to put out the flames." So with the aid of that little hint you get through to the next chamber. What with ravenous rats, fierce flames, callous crocodile, and other alliterative adventures to survive, Dizzy III is more entertaining than it sounds. Obviously the Oliver Twins have had enough experience in the graphics, animation and game design fields to give the whole thing a very professional finish; it might not be the most original game in the world (in fact it might be the least original) but it's a perfectly good little pot-boiler, or egg-boiler if you prefer.

Label: Codemasters Author: Oliver Twins Price: £2.99 Joystick: various Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Plenty of eggy fun, recommended for hard-core Dizzy fans only.