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We Spectrum owners have already had nursery rhymes like jumping jack and children's stories like The Snowman converted to games. Now Thor have decided that that panto classic Jack And The Beanstalk is worthy of similar treatment.

Basically the tale has become a graphic adventure in the same vein as, but nowhere near as complex as, Atic Atac. You control a cute-looking character called, logically enough, Jack.

Same as in the pantomime, it is your job to infiltrate the Giant's castle and steal his treasure.

First, though, you've got to climb the beanstalk. This is not as easy as it seems - until you realise you have to have the axe which is lying fairly conveniently on the ground.

Key movement is fairly easy but with a Kempston joystick, matters are a little more difficult... The fire button controls jumping which means that the five movement controls are on the joystick whilst fire is left forlornly on the keyboard.

The levels above the beanstalk are a little more difficult as it takes a long time to figure out exactly where you can move safely. This can lead to the game becoming boring fairly quickly as the gap between each life or game can become unbearably long.

This is because the program is compatible with the Currah Microspeech unit and, because of this, the computer wastes quite a lot of time sending superfluous code to a device which, depending on your set-up, may or may not exist.

I enjoyed playing the game and I'd be pleased to be given it, but it's not one I'd rush out and buy

The graphics are extensive and very well drawn, with a twisting spiral to the sky on the first screen. Your enemies seem to have been in intensive pre-battle training as they speed around the screen; their swift movement only spoiled by flickering colours as they touch each other, although this is a facet of many Spectrum games.

Sound is more than a little repetitive, as a grinding little tune croaks along throughout the game. There are some nice gurgles and shrieks as you meet your doom, which help the game along.

Overall, an enjoyable program which I could happily return to again and again, although it does lack that something extra that makes a great game.

Like platform games, the interest here is in working out how to conquer each screen. But the graphics and feel are completely different to, say, Manic Miner. Each screen is very colourful and pretty, but there are only four to work through.

Also, the game suffers from a certain imprecision, which is frustrating. You can seem to be hit by an alien when in fact you haven't been.

Despite the original idea, I didn't find the game very compulsive or enjoyable.