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Jinn Genie is another Commodore game set in mystical Arabia. Your aim is to find the magic jar, the only vessel capable of holding and banishing the wicked Meet. You must save the Golden City from his evil ways!

In the first screen, you must fly through the flying devils on your magic carpet. You can also destroy them with magic spells. To do this you press the fire button on the joystick, which will make a spell causing a cloud-like sprite to appear. You then manoeuvre it round the screen until it is over one of the devils. This sounds fiddly but it is quite easy to do.

On the second screen you must find a window which opens for you, by climbing various ladders. This is a bit of a con really, since it is *always* the eighth window you try!

On the third screen you must light various torches which will enable you to find the magic jar.

Finally, you come to the inner sanctum where you must trap the Ifreet in the jar. Again you control both the hero and the jar with the joystick, using the fire button to switch between them. If you manage to get this far, which isn't too difficult, the game starts again at a harder level.

Fortunately you can start at higher levels, which is a good idea since the first level is so easy it becomes a bit of a bore.

Sadly, most screens are of good old Manic Miner type. Despite the fact that the graphics are very colourful and of a good quality, and that the game has a good story, at £8.95 it is a bit over-priced.

There are many other good platform games that are a lot cheaper, so unless the price of this game is brought down, you might be better off buying one of the others.

Micromega's first tentative step into the Commodore 64 market is definitely commendable. It won't stretch your mental abilities and the easier levels are a pushover, but as you progress things get tougher and with several different sections to each city, you've got a variety of tasks.

There are some clever parts of the game, like the Sphere of Oblivion and the gradual brightening of the rooms as you light torches. Not exactly one of the mystical delights of Arabia but good enough for me to want to play again.

The idea of the game is quite brilliant and includes some new interesting features. I particularly liked the way you have to manoeuvre the pot around and eventually stopper it to trap the Genie.

The sound was pretty authentic but not so good on the old ears if you're not into Arabian music.

Nasties encountered didn't change much from city to city but multiplied vociferously towards the end of the game, and the graphics, although interesting, certainly weren't awe-inspiring.