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This is another fine mess you've gotten me into, Stanley. And, I must admit, it's excellent fun.

Alligata's Livingstone, I Presume is written by the Spanish software house Opera Soft and is apparently - or was - the number one game in the land of sunshine, bullfights and toasted tourists. Its Spanish title is Livingstone, Supongo - which I think is wonderful. It shouldn't have been changed.

As you may have guessed, this 63-screen arcade adventure deals with the story of African missionary Livingstone and the explorer Stanley's efforts to find him in the jungle and utter those immortal words: "Dr Livingstone, I presume".

It seems odd subject matter for a Spanish software house but, then again, perhaps no odder than the equipment they give Stanley - a boomerange, dagger, grenade and a vaulting pole! Typical jungle exploration gear, in fact.

You must certainly use your wits to negotiate the screens, avoid attack, monkeys who chuck coconuts at you, traps, underwater monsters, cannibals with cooking pots and strange temples with exotic gods.

Stanley can switch between his equipment. The pole is useful for vaulting gaps and gaining height. And the boomerang comes in handy for flicking switches (in the jungle!) which are situated in the most difficult of places.

It's actually very difficult to get into the game. You need more lives than a cat to get anywhere. Alligata supplied me with an infinite lives POKE - or, as the Spanish say, POKEADOR. In fact, I now understand the POKE will be printed in the game's instructions for those who find themselves frustrated at the beginning of the game.

If you like these problem-solving platform games - especially the difficult type - you'll enjoy these jungle frolics. Livingstone is pleasing to look at but not the most original game around. What is interesting is the prospect of more Spanish software being released in this country.