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One of last year's most original games was Boulderdash from Statesoft. Icicle Works is their latest title although to all intents and purposes it might just as well have been called Boulderdash 2. The rocks have been replaced with giant snowballs and the diamonds by parts of toys, but the mechanisms are very similar.

The object of the game is to collect parts of a toy within a certain time limit and make your escape into the next screen. You have to plan your trip around the screen very carefully for, as you tunnel under them, the snowballs fall (on you, if you're not fast enough!). Sometimes you have to do this deliberately in order to access certain parts of the screen. As you acquire a piece, so it is displayed on the right hand side of the screen in its correct place so you can work out how many more pieces are needed. The graphics are reasonable but every time you move off the edge of the screen, you have to wait for the background to catch up with you. The problems set in the game involve strategic dropping of snowballs and avoiding assorted nasties which get released when you pick up a piece of the puzzle.

Following on from the pop-industry, there is a vogue amongst software houses at the moment to produce follow-up games. In order words, if you had an idea that worked, then use it again. Icicle Works is nowhere near as good as Boulderdash was and is too similar to it. If you have bought Boulderdash, and want more of the same, then consider this game. If you haven't got either, then take a look at Boulderdash first.