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"Well, blow me down, Olive. What kind of a mesk has I gots meself inta this time?" The answer, Popeye, old cartoon chum, is a pretty near video game, based on a hit arcade game.

Those of us with long enough memories can remember "Popeye" as one of the best animated cartoon shows on TV (and I'm talking about the TV showings of the original 1940's cartoons, not the banal modern dross that still appears). That qualitry of animation was a feature of the arcade game and, thankfully, has not lost much in translation to the video game medium.

The game has Kong-like overtones in that Olive, at the top of the screen, is throwing down hearts, notes and cries for H-E-L-P which Popeye has to catch before they fall into the sea at the bottom. He does this by racing along platforms at various levels, connected by stairs, ladders, etc.

Bluto (the stupid instruction manual insists on calling him 'Brutus') constantly chases after Popeye trying to knock him off the platforms into the sea. The Sea Hag appears occasionally to hurl bottles with Popeye has to punch out of the way or be knocked off his feet. Vultures have to be tackled in a similar way.

Popeye, of course, has his faithful can of spinach which he can chomp and gain several seconds of Bluto-socking power, plus a few other tricks up his sleeve.

The whole game takes place over three different, beautifully rendered screens and has more features than you could shake a Goon at and which make it very addictive.

Of the two versions out from Parker so far, the ColecoVision edition comes closest to the arcade original. Bluto, especially, is excellently characterised. Coleco's sound system is more than up to the task of belting out "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" whenever our one-eyed hero downs a can of spinach.

Intellivision owners won't be disappointed with their version either. It's colourful and fast (would be more if not for those notorious control discs).

Great game. Highly addictive. Don't pass it up.