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When a little-known software house brings out a game with a quirky title, thoughts race to the first releases of Bug-Byte and Ultimate; could this be another Pssst! or Manic Miner? Alas, no, there's not much new or original here.

You control the 'mad hatter' who has to collect ten sweets (for his unbirthday tea) from around the screen. He can then go to the bottom of the screen to collect a chocolate roll; this must be done five times to complete the sheet.

However, it's not quite that simple. The 'hatter' is pestered by mice who steal his sweets, poison which will lose him a life, and worst of all the dreaded vacuum cleaners positioned at the right of the screen. It he gets too close, he is sucked to an unpleasant death. Luckily, these can be frozen for a while by the plug which appears at intervals.

Your character can move in all four directions, the screen layout is plain and there are no obstacles to manoeuvre around. The graphics can only be described as poor, badly drawn and small, although the animation is fairly lifelike. The sound consists of a droning buzz which soon becomes annoying

The only redeeming factor is the speed it must be played at to stay alive though once the first screen has been mastered subsequent sheets shouldn't pose any problems as they are the same only with more hazards.

Alice games have a pretty poor history to date and this one does little to change that Alice in Videoland released a while back by Audiogenic had excellent graphics but proved to be a very dull game.

This game has appalling graphics but offers some interesting gameplay. Clearly what's needed is a merger of the two positive elements. As it stands though, I can't see many people turning up for this Mad Hatter's tea party.

This interesting, new program may be basically a Gridrunner-style game but, believe it or not, it's different. Large, chunky graphics make this game appear attractive but the movement, even though in machine code, is terrible.

Even when standing still, your Mad Hatter's legs and arms dance about madly. The vacuum cleaners (well, they look like vacuum cleaners if you don't examine them too closely) move with quick jerks up and down the right-hand side of the screen.

The mice which the vacuum cleaners spit out move so speedily that it's impossible to see if their legs or even tails move. The sound is okay to begin with but soon begins to be annoying. I can't say I enjoyed this game.

Games like this make me want to cry. Why, oh why, do software houses so often have good ideas and then fail to realise them properly? In its present form it is a reasonable game, extremely addictive and bug-free, but it is let down by its barely satisfactory graphics. Come on Gamma. Go out and buy a sprite-generation routine.