Frak!, the classic game by Orlando, is now available for the Electron

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The quirky Aardvark team have released just two games for the BBC in the last two years - and both were classics.

Zalaga has been out on the Electron for a while now and at last the cave man romp Frak is now available. It's not just a conversion but an improvement, in speed and in the addition of a screen designing utility built into the program. It is compatible with keyboard, First Byte and Plus One joysticks.

Frak is all about a caveman called Trogg who has to make his way around an horizontally scrolling platform and ladders world, employing his yo-yo to knock creatures out of his way and to fend off balloons which come up at him from below and daggers which spear at him from above. He must keep his balance and judge his jumps to perfection to make it through the variety of screens and levels. Some seem impossible but there's always a way.

You don't get the colour of the Beeb version but the gameplay is the same. Sideways scrolling is handled slightly differently with the display shifting in a one third screen size chunk as you approach the right hand edge.

The Mode 4 screen however displays the brilliant cartoon drawings which make the game visually unique and inspired many look alikes. The use of line and shading makes up for the two colour Mode, especially since it means that the sprites are exceptionally smooth on the Electron version. There is no flicker whatsoever, improving on the original.

All the features of the BBC version are there and more. You can go into the game at a level and screen of your choice. The fascination is potentially unlimited now that a screen designer has been built in. Your new screen can be freely designed using a selection of blocks. These are selected by highlighting the blocks and moving to the chosen spot with the cursor keys. The space bar draws the shape and can autorepeat for quick drawing of platforms. You only have to watch out that you leave room for Trogg to move along them. Objects to collect and avoid can be placed on the screen and there must be at least one key on each screen.

The best method of designing a screen is to draw it section by section, testing each in turn. You will be building jumps and movement puzzles into the screen so it's best to get it right in stages rather than go for broke with a whole screen which may not fit together. You can go back and edit your screen after testing and save it to tape for later retrieval, either by yourself or by your mates, whose skill at the game you would like to challenge.

Two features which are less than wonderful are the key response and the method of relocating the screen as you move left to right. It's a rapid jump and can be offputting and even unnerving, especially when you are in the process of jumping, but you can live with it. The keys are also manageable and you get a feel for what's needed. Those who are used to autorepeat response will have to get used to bashing the keys again and again to repeat jumps. A small bug means that the score display periodically goes slightly haywire and the self built screen games locked/crashed on occasion.

Frak is a very good game, original and highly addictive. When you thought you'd seen it all the screens go loop the loop and you have to do it all again upside down! There's always a new challenge and the difficulty increases apace. The screen designer offers the chance to be creative, to personalise games with large, intricate routes and to devise some nasty traps!

At £7.90 it's well worth buying. A unique and enjoyable game.

Look out for the gold pack and the aardvark on skates! And look out BBC owners because it works on the BBC as well.

Shingo Sugiura