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After years of adventuring Gremlin's brave little furry mole has retired to the sun, on his own personal tropical island. But all is not well, because one day he is visited by a none too friendly alien who demands that Monty destroy five Guardians and bring him their treasure.

This outing sees Monty as a superhero, with a groin crunching kick, bombs and a stun gun - and silly superhero clothing: a tracksuit and cape. He faces five levels full of derring do. Starting in the Orient he huffs and puffs his way up and down ladders, leaps from platform to platform in his quest for Guardians with Ninjas, Geisha girls, dogs and monkeys an more out to stop him - including end of level monsters like the dragon who guards the way to the Klondike Mines and level two. These are full of subterranean creatures, with a giant worm for a guardian. Monty continues on into the Ice World (brrr), the Amazon Forest and endless scrapes before he can see off the visiting alien. I've never been a great Monty Mole fan, and Impossamole does nothing to change my mind. The attacking creatures and backgrounds are both very colourful, but this very often causes colour clash, and as Monty himself is monochromatic, he changes colour more often than a chameleon. The screen flicks as you move around which is most annoying, and why is it that Monty seems to posses the reactions of a drugged snail? I seemed to have great difficulty moving our hero around with any great urgency.

MARK ... 64%

'Monty Mole was one of my childhood heroes! When someone got a Monty Mole game on my estate, everyone would rush around to take a peek at the rodent's addictive antics. We all thought those days had gone, but what's this? Yes, Monty has returned in Impossamole. Graphically it's really good. All the small but detailed sprites that appeared in the other Monty games have returned for a second showing, but this time they are accompanied by plenty of colours and outstanding backgrounds. The only trouble with Monty coming out of retirement is that he seems to have lost his knack for zipping about the screen (he's had quite a face lift too!). The game is much slower than the others were. There are some really impressive later levels in the game, the only trouble is getting to them. Impossamole offers more of the platforms and ladders fun that many Spectrumers have grown up with, coupled with great graphics: a recipe for an addictive game, if only it were a little faster.'