Gridtrap's debut on the MSX is not marked by the excellence of the conversion but by its bargain price. A pity everything else in the MSX world could not be such a bargain.

The game consists of a grid of squares punctuated by the occasional skull and crossbones and a bomb with a lit fuse. Roaming around the grid you can see one or more bovver boots which stomp around trying to crush your player represented by a moving head.

The aim of the game is quite simple, get to the bomb before it explodes. The reality is not as simple as this, as you move around the grid, avoiding the skulls and the boots, each square stepped upon disappears forming barriers to your progress should you need to retrace your path to defuse the next bomb and it is easy to strand yourself with nowhere to turn if you are not careful. Help is at hand because you can scroll the screen left and right if there are any vacant squares available and in this way you can pull an escape route towards your little man.

Scattered liberally about the screen are several flags which gain bonus points should you reach them. At first this is relatively easy to do but as the game progresses the number of boots and skulls increase and you must focus your attention on defusing the bomb rather than going for the highest possible score.

I have played this game on the Commodore 64 and although the graphics are not up to the same standard, it is just as challenging and interesting to play in its converted form.