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The latest arcade adventure from the prolific Peter Scott, author of Thunderstruck 2 and the recently re-released Hunkidory, is Omega Orb.

Peter's games always have a distinctive appearance and feel. This one is certainly from the same stable, although featuring a number of refinements on previous offerings.

You control the Omega Orb, a beautifully animated bouncing ball which is the cutest creature I've seen in a long time. I particularly liked the delightful squashy effect produced when the Orb hits the ground.

The object of the game seems similar to that of its predecessor, Thunderstruck 2: Move the Orb through a variety of multi-coloured locations collecting core pieces - presumably to rebuild the core, although I have yet to find it. A number of other objects litter the landscape and it's up to you to work out what to do with them.

Omega Orb is however considerably more hectic than Thunderstruck 2 because each new location produces a number of evil-looking creatures with intentions to match.

Contact with any of them reduces them to a cloud of dust, but severely drains your energy.

Furthermore, the game has a nasty habit of leaving the dead creature's dust behind, which again reduces your energy to death level in seconds. Luckily you can rely on your trusty laser gun.

You can only carry one object at a time and collecting or dropping is automatic - you simply jump on it. If you haven't got an object you take it, but if you are already carrying one it will be exchanged for the new one.

If you pause more than about a second the new acquisition will be dropped again.

It is therefore very easy, and annoying, to bounce off with the wrong object, or even empty-handed.

I haven't managed to get very far into the game yet. However, the screens I have seen have been superb with large animated sprites, used for moving creatures and for many landscape features, allowing you to walk behind the scenery. The plot is a challenge to both mental and physical reflexes.

I found Omega Orb a little too similar to Thunderstruck 2, but nevertheless it is a game well worth looking out for.

Martin Reed