Pothole Pete is obviously the cousin of Manic Miner, but potholing, it turns out, is just as much fun.

You're faced with 25 potholes - each a different screen filled with platforms which you have to negotiate in search of objects. These have to be gathered up in order to move onto the next pothole.

Inhabiting the holes are lots of evil beings who have it in for you. A savage array of haggis-like creatures, octopuses, ghosts, skulls and the like are all out to stop your quest.

The first screen introduces the Moronic Meanies and has five treasures to be collected. A ghost, a bird and a trolley oppose you - as if dissolving platforms and conveyor belts weren't enough.

Each hole is arranged so that there should only be one way to collect everything and escape to the next section.

Combined with the wicked time limit, one slip is fatal, but once you know the way it's a matter of routine.

Pete does not take kindly to long drops and a badly-timed jump will result in a scream and much screen-flashing. The conveyor belts move at the same speed as Pete and when walking the wrong way along one you have to jump hard to get anywhere. White platforms gradually disappear under your weight but blue ones are as safe as the brickwork.

If you collect all the objects you have to find the door to the next stage, which is in the bottom right of the first screen.

Further rooms include The Deadly Hurdles, In the Bosses' Room and The Aviary but with all 25 to get through you'll be a pensioner before you complete it. So the opening tune of 'When I'm 64' is very appropriate.

The graphics are very good and despite the same basic scenario it is not a straight copy of Manic Miner. A great game - one which begins to reveal the Memotech's vast potential.