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{Presumably this is a re-print of the unintelligible mess of the review text that was in the previous issue. It has the same scores and overall outcome so it must be presumed it's just a re-print.}

Sega has Sonic the Hedgehog, Nintendo has Mario and the Spectrum has... Impossamole!

Monty the mole is back! Back into active service on budget and ready to combat evil in a sprawling, graphic, platform adventure.

The most recent of line of Monty releases, Impossamole has Monty's with superpowers, given to him by aliens before sending him on a mission to defeat the Five Guardians and re-take the sacred scrolls of eternal life.

There are five levels to explore spanning forests, iceland and underground caverns etc, all infested with various infuriating and varied hazards - from homing bats and robots to little old men and unidentifiable beasties.

And staying alive in this onslaught is not easy with only one life represented by a meter at the top of the screen that can only be topped up by the all too infrequent pick ups. A time limited special weapon can be used to clear the screen and lots of not so special bombs, rocket launchers and guns can be found behind trees.

As with most platform games the mission is almost immaterial as precedence is always given to staying alive which is extremely hard to do. Controls are very sluggish and only lots of practice will see you through.

Impossamole is still fun and looks great, with some excellent use of colour. The option to load up any one of four out of the five levels means the repetitiveness created by the difficulty is almost overcome. A strong product with lasting appeal.

Label: Gremlin Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape, N/A Disk Reviewer: Steve Keen

If you want a real platforming challenge you can't get much tougher than this. A whole lotta mole!