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Pitfall II doesn't measure up to the pictures on the package. And at this price, it should. It's an underground exploration, like Manic Miner, but with an attempt to make the surroundings look realistic, and not so many things to avoid. Each time you collide with one, you lose points and are transported back to the site of the last "healing cross" you discovered.

The character set used is the standard Sinclair job, which looks very ordinary, and the animation and construction of the figures is very crude. The one saving grace is the rather interesting rendition of a moving underground sea, and Pitfall Harry swimming in it. When nobbled by a creature, he also whizzes back through all the locations back to the cross, which is fun, if frustrating!

To be fair, this is a good concept, but again, as it's a conversion, the transition hasn't been kind to it. It would have been good to see what Ultimate or Ocean would have made of it, but in its present low state of sophistication, it should only command a retail price of £1.99.

D.M.