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Another slick Amstrad conversion from Odin. Heartland was originally released on the Spectrum a couple of months ago and, by all accounts, did very well, thank you very much.

For those of you that were unlucky enough to miss the Specy version the story goes something like this.

Eldtritch the wizard, a goodly soul if ever there was one, has left the Heartland for pastures new. Before he went he built up a healthy reputation for slaying dragons, rescuing damsels in distress and all the other heroic deeds wizards get up to. All his knowledge was passed down in a book left to the Heartland to protect it from evil.

One of the nastiest pieces of work Eldtritch had to deal with in the Heartland was a character by the name of Midan, the dreaded Black Warlock, and the wizard's arch enemy. During their last barney Midan cast the last chapter of Eldtrich's book to the seven winds, thus neutralising its power.

Your task is to find the last six pages of the book before Midan's evil spreads throughout the land. Unfortunately, to confuse you, Midan has also left six 'dark' pages in the Heartland, which must be destroyed or your quest will have been in vain.

Screen layout is crisp and colourful using the Amstrad's 16 colour mode showing a side-on view of each location in the five lands containing the light and dark pages.

Locations are linked by doorways through which you can move into, or away from, the screen, as well as exits to the left and right which means that the only sensible way of mapping Heartland is by making a plan view map of each level.

There are two of Midan's cronies in almost every location. They can be stunned temporarily in a number of ways, all of them violent.

Either zap 'em with your trusty magic top hat or fling a fireball or a dagger at the little blighters, but watch out for the large flying star clusters - they will quickly drain your energy.

Bubbles, on the other hand, will give you more strength while little star clusters will give you temporary protection from Midan's hit men.

The game begins in your bedroom, but there's no time to rest as your energy disappears at an alarming rate, possibly a little too fast. In each of the first four levels there are two pages to collect with a further four in the final level set in the village.

When you have found the first two pages it's back to the bedroom in time to be transported to the next level.

You can only carry six pages at once so it is important that dark, unwanted, pages should be destroyed. This is done by picking up a seventh page, which immediately causes the first one you got to be released. Repeat the process until a dark page is released and then zap it.

The status area at the top of the screen shows energy, time, and what spells you are carrying together with the number of pages so far collected. The face of Midan will also appear and disappear depending on how many star clusters and cronies you come into contact with and the larger the warlocks face the higher is your energy drain.

Heartland is destined to be a hit on the Amstrad and should appeal to the thousands who spent last summer glued to Sorcery Plus.

If you're after a pretty arcade adventure liberally garnished with zapping, good sound effects and music then Heartland is for you.