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There used to be three essential Amstrad games - Sorcery, Tau Ceti and Spindizzy - now you can add Get Dexter! to your list.

This French game is a mixture of all that's best in Ultimate games, with a dash of Sorcery and a whole lot of style. Once you get stuck into this colourful arcade adventure, you'll be totally addicted - so don't start planning anything silly like summer holidays. You won't want to drag yourself away from your Amstrad!

The idea of the game is fairly straightforward. You play the part of Dexter - a super-android on a top secret mission to infiltrate the research centre which houses Zarxas, the galactic central control computer, discover the access code to the computer's nerve centre and take all its memory chips.

The reason for all this? Well, there's a bunch of evil people who want to destroy the universe - again! Eight scientists hold different bits of the access code - so Dexter has to meet them and persuade them to give him the code.

Now, Dexter would be a real tough-looking dude if it wasn't for the silly ski cap he wears which makes him look like a bionic Noddy. How did he come by this hat? Well, this little Prodocephale ate the top of his head before it could be fitted you see and Dexter didn't really want to go on a top secret mission with transistors and bits of wire poking out of his bonce. Understandable, I suppose.

Anyway, as punishment for this crime the Pod - called Scooter - has to go along with Dexter. He helps his android pal by warning of dangers and helping Dexter over certain obstacles.

You start the game in any one of the Zarxas centre's meny colourful rooms. These are often inhabited by oddly shaped robots whose one aim in life is to kill you off. Your energy rating is depicted in percentage in fashion at the bottom of the screen, Sorcery style. You can dodge some of the robot guards quite easily - or, if you have the right sort of weapon with you, Dexter can destroy them.

A little graphic "suitcase" in the left-hand corner of the screen shows just what you are carrying at any one time. You can only carry one object at a time - but you are able to swap things when the object in use has outlived its purpose.

If you find a bottle of acid - a silver container marked with a red skull and crossbones symbol - position yourself to drop it on a robot defender and the metallic monster will dissolve into a satisfying silver puddle.

But watch out - Dexter can slip on the puddles and lose energy.

There are fifty colourful 3D rooms to explore, each packed with an amazing amount of detail. Almost every object in each room can be moved, picked up or used. And each of the objects has a purpose. For example, boxes can be piled up to reach a previously unreachable platform, coloured passes must be used to open doors, objects which look like miners' lamps can be used to destroy robots, and little red "cards" with something that looks like a Smiley face on them can be dropped in a room - where they rise up and "freeze" the robot defenders.

Dexter can walk and jump and pick up objects like any normal game hero - but he can also *pull* things. Things like wardrobes which sometimes reveal hidden entrances - or more robot nasties!

There are human enemies in the computer centre as well - a nurse and a punk, who you might just recognise from Macadam Bumper's loading screen. These people try to make your life as difficult as possible - but you can disable them by using certain objects.

Energy can be a problem for Dexter but if he finds a useful Holophonic Cabin he can zap his energy up to 99% again. Like the cauldrons in Sorcery.

There's so much to this game that you'll want to keep coming back for more - time and time again.

The graphics are excellent, so is animation and sound. Get Dexter! is already a French number one under its original name, Crafton and Xunc - and it's destined to be an instant hit in the UK too. Go out and buy it.