Willy first appeared on our screens in Manic Miner, after which he evidently spent his profits on the mansion which featured in Jet Set Willy. It appears that Willy has been having a lot of building alterations, since the mansion now has over 100 new rooms. This doesn't seem to please Maria the housekeeper who is most insistent that Willy should tidy up after the builders.

She is preventing our hero from reaching the master bedroom until her bidding is done, and has also set a time limit of midnight so it's a race against the clock.

Under your control the poor chap will do his best, but you'll encounter the most amazing assortment of nasties, ranging from mutant camels to something that looks like a refugee from a Happy Eater restaurant. The fun starts off in the bathroom where all you have to contend with is a killer bath sponge and some joker who keeps firing arrows across the screen.

The rooms themselves all have names, ranging from the conventional Butler's Pantry to the bizarre Fallout Shelter. And whoever heard of a room called Ethel the Aardvark? So far I've conquered about 25 of these rooms but as in real life, the Wine Cellar is my ruin every time.

Willy is free to wander from room to room but will only score points when objects are collected, usually at great risk. One plus point is that to make Willy jump you use the asterisk key - it's nice to see RETURN getting a rest.

A minus point is that although Willy receives a generous number of lives he is reincarnated at exactly the same place he died. So if the noxious nasty is still there, another life is lost immediately, and again, if you're not quick.

Unfortunately, first impressions of this game are not favourable. The title screen is unimaginative, the sound is non-existent and the graphics poor in comparison to recent best-sellers. So why do I find myself still playing it at midnight? The reason is the author, Chris Robson, has made each screen a separate series of puzzles for which a solution is often obscure. The result is a game which is extremely addictive.

I must go now as I think I've just worked out how to get across Willy's Bird Bath.

Beejay