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Bouncing Bruce, the well-known droid on a spring, is caught in a multi-sectored cosmic energy grid - and he wants to escape from every level.

Surrounded by the black oblivion of space, each sector is composed of blocks, set at different heights and forming a grid. Bruce can move up to three blocks at a time, in straight lines (he can't move diagonally, though). Controlling Bruce, you can decide the height of each bounce and move him up to higher levels of the grid.

Some grid squares contain rotating energy discs: when he lands on one Bruce collects the disc and scores points. And when he's picked up all the discs in each sector, bouncing boy can move on to the next.

But Bruce is hindered by danger blocks - squares with circular election devices force him upward so he crashes, moving guards can shatter his delicate frame, and direction blocks propel him in the wrong direction. To avoid these threats - and save his eight lives - Bruce must bounce up and over them.

Control Keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Use of colour, very clever, touches well employed
Graphics: reasonable sprites, good 3D effect
Sound: above average
Skill levels: one

'I'm impressed. Parabola, though simple, is an addictive little game; my only moan Is that the screens themselves. Quite a change soon start repeating from the normal run of isometric games, Parabola is presented attractively, with some good graphics; unfortunately, Firebird's Instructions are typically over-concise. Once understood, though, Parabola is well worth getting stuck into, especially at this.'

'Not very original, this - there's a host of games following the same sort of gameplan, and none of them are very appealing. The only real difference between Parabola and the many other Q'Bert games around a few years ego is that here you only have to bounce on some, not all, of the squares - which makes it very easy to play, and pretty tedious too. For the price this is fairly well-presented both graphically and sonically, but it lacks playability and addictiveness.'

'The presentation of Parabola is superb, breaking a few Spectrum boundaries - six different colours in one character square!! But it's a pity there's nothing new within the game; it's all boring old mono-chromatic play areas. Though the control method seems strange at first, persistence brings high rewards. The graphics are very detailed and the perspective is believable. And though the basic idea of Parabola is old, it's a most enjoyable product, certainty worth two pounds.'