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Hmmm, as if you don't have enough to worry about, Bitmapsoft is inflicting yet another AGD-programmed flick-screen graphic adventure upon Spectrum owners in the form of The Hair-Raising Adventures Of Mr. Hair, or Mr. Hair as it shall henceforth be known. It comes with very weird instructions, which describe "racing across trackless voids" and "entering the heart of darkness". Needless to say, this is poetic licence for a pretty run-of-the-mill platform game, and one which has quite a litany of issues.

The first oversight is that it isn't described what exactly Mr. Hair is supposed to be. He certainly looks like a squiggly hair (presumably from someone's head as opposed to anywhere else) rather than say, Miner Willy. The second oversight is that it isn't described what precisely Mr. Hair is supposed to do. Obviously roaming nasties and platforms isn't exactly rocket science but there are no items to collect so presumably this is just a "get from the starting position to the end position" game. If it has any secrets then there's no hint at them in the instructions, and I haven't unearthed any of them in the time I've spent playing it.

Not that I have spent very long in the company of Mr. Hair though. You see, this game suffers from a frustrating feature that doesn't fit with an exploratory theme. When Mr. Hair dies - either from bashing his head on a cunningly hidden obstruction or by being struck by one of the weird monsters of his environs - he is always reincarnated at a particular place on the screen, regardless of where he *entered* that screen. There aren't really any words for how irritating this feature is, because it results in the player having to retrace his steps multiple times, i.e. leaving Room A by exit A to proceed through Rooms B and C and D to re-enter room A by exit B, only to be killed and end up back outside exit A...!

There's music throughout in the 128K version and a pleasing rendition of Another One Bites The Dust when you run out of lives. And, well, there's not really a lot more to say. Mr. Hair, whatever he may be, doesn't seem to be having much of the way of adventures, whether hair-raising or not... He seems to be just another running, jumping sprite in a garden of sorts. He has five lives rather than an energy bar, and the down control will push him down through the solid surfaces that look like green vines. It all seems pretty disjointed and weird and I struggle to find anyone to whom I think this particular mix might appeal. With so many AGD-programmed games now cluttering up the market, the Spectrum owner is spoiled for choice when he feels like playing a new platform romp. And, sadly, I doubt anyone would choose to play this more than once.