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Magic potions, secret scrolls and supernatural psychos for enemies. These are the sort of problems that a budding apprentice magician must learn to deal with in order to worm his way back into the affections of his master when the wayward lad has created untold havoc in the temple spell store - and what a lot of worming there is to do.

Mystical's quest involves a young trainee magician trudging around the world to collect the scrolls and phials which he naughtily scattered to the four winds just before he was due to start his final exams. If he doesn't recover these he will never qualify as a practising Magic Merchant and will probably end up down at the Job Centre looking for employment as a partly qualified Wizard. The reason The Great Wizard, his master, is so peeved is that these documents and vessels contain knowledge and potions which have taken centuries to assemble.

Mr. Magician must face a whole army of different fiends in order to complete his task. At the weak end of the baddie scale there is a relatively dumb ghoul with his head where his stomach should be, in the middle of the scale comes deceptively innocent looking Jack and Jill clones, while at the terrifying end there are viciously strong mutant bearded Monks and fast, furious Chinese mime artist impersonators from hell who can move around the turf faster than a teacher's pet in gym class. You must also avoid the many bundles of rocks and other obstacles which litter the screen and opposing characters may chuck nasty life draining balls at you.

Every cloud though, they say, has a silver lining and Mystical's is that your Magician can use the various scrolls and potions he collects to protect himself on the journey. These vary widely from Scrolls that send Magic Swords ahead to engage enemies, to Ice Torpedos that turn an enemy into a melting Frosty the Snowman or slime torpedoes that turn him into a hopping mad frog. The Phials contain potions which among other things give your man firepower, the ability to strike fear into his foes or to clone himself to confuse them. It is also possible to store up to eight spells and use them at random and he has three lives available to complete the adventure. Life force, indicated on the right of the main screen is sustained by eating burgers which are littered throughout the worlds.

There are four game scenarios, each vertically scrolling with three individual sections. To get between each section you must place the Magician over a star, marking the spot where the Great Wizard will transport you to the next danger-filled zone. This is carried out without too much ceremony, rather like Scottie beaming the Enterprise crew up without actually making a fuss about it ("hoots mon she'll nay hold together if we transport yee withoot a wee bit o' ceremony the noo').

In two player mode the second player takes over the role of a Golem (see fax strip) who hops around the screen like a springy old sack of potatoes, jumping on the various enemies that are out to stop the quest. He loses power easily and then disappears underground until his stock is replenished. To be completely honest this is a really boring role and should strictly be reserved for younger brothers and other easily coerced people.

Although graphics are plain everything is very clear which is good because there are twenty four different spells and a multitude of different enemies to contend with. All characters are instantly recognisable and scrolling is smooth. The magician and Golem are sometimes slow at responding to commands but this is not bad enough to seriously affect game enjoyment. The tune on the opening screens is neat, sounding a little bit like Barmitzvah music but the sounds during the game, although numerous, are a bit dull.

Mystical is a playable, humorous, quirky game with a very simple plot and a big world full of nasty characters and dangerous spells. If turning foes into temporary vegetables, petrified Michelin Men or char-grilled skeletoids sounds good to you then Mystical will either amuse you or bemuse you.

Label: Infogrames Memory: 48K/128K Price: £11.99 Tape, £16.99 Disk Reviewer: Alan Dykes

An, absorbing shoot 'em up with a simple concept; frightening foes and the greatest variety of offensive and defensive spells and potions that I've ever seen. Worth a look if you want to play something a little bit different.