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If you're tired of always losing to hordes of aliens every night, then this may be the game for you.

It's totally friendly. There are no aliens to kill and none to kill you. There's no need for all that frantic bashing of the Fire button which will help both your keyboard and your fingers.

What you may not like about this game is that you actually have to think while you're playing it, which is something not many video games ask you to do.

On screen is a maze of narrow passages. There are eight ways in at the top and nine exits at the bottom. It's similar to those games where you have to guess which exit is linked to which entrance.

At the top of the screen is a man with a barrel and at the bottom are nine gaps, with one gap under each of the exits. The idea is to drop a barrel down one of the tunnels and get it to land in the gaps. The ultimate aim is to get a barrel into each of the gaps, by working out which tunnel the man should drop the barrel into at the top.

But it's not as easy as that. As the tunnels snake their way down the screen, there is a small gate at many of the bends. The gate slants one of two ways and will determine which direction the barrel will take if it hits that particular gate.

So if you drop a barrel from the left-hand side of the screen, it may well fall into a gap at the right hand side, depending on the luck of the gates. "So what?" you ask. Well, if you drop a barrel into a gap where there's one there already, then both of the barrels will disappear. The gates change direction whenever a barrel passes through.

You have twenty barrels on each level, so you have to think carefully before each move and work out where is the best place to drop the barrel from.

If, after studying the screen, you think that there's no way that you're going to be able to get that last barrel in place then you can also scroll the maze up and down. The gates will still point in the same direction, but some of the routes may change.

If you're desperate, you can start an earthquake. This will not move the maze itself, but will swap some of the gates so that they point in the other direction. This may often be the only way out of a sticky situation, but it will cost you one of your twenty barrels to start an earthquake.

There are seven levels. In the first four, you must get one barrel into each of the exits at the bottom. For levels five and six, you have to get a set of numbers into order by dropping a barrel on each of the digits. The number which you hit will then swap with the number to its right. If you manage to drop the barrels in the right place, then you should be able to get the numbers in order.

Gatecrasher is difficult. I played for a whole evening but I still can't get past level two.

It's very tricky, but fun to play. You'll find that it's not too hard to get all but one of the barrels in the right places, but aiming the last one will usually wipe out all your previous hard work. If you're prepared to stick with the game, then it'll probably grow on you. It certainly did with me.

If you become really good at it and you can reach level seven and break the code which you are given, then you could be in for a prize. Champions at the game have a chance to win £200, so drop a line to Quicksilva if you think you qualify.

Meanwhile, you can get your copy from your local dealer or branch of WH Smith.

If you're tired of endless blasting, then you'll like this game. But be warned, it may come as a shock when you realise that there's more to computing than blowing things up.