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Previewed several eons ago, Puffy's Saga finally hits the Spectrum.

Freedom is the name of the game: Puffy and his sweetheart Pufyn attempt to escape a world of mazes containing all manner of very unfriendly denizens. Start by choosing your sex(!), in other words play either Puffy or Pufyn. Time to inadvertently stumble into the first level. The monsters aren't too chuffed at two beach ball shaped interlopers invading their territory, however accidentally and set about 'welcoming' them.

Their attacks knock down Puffy/Pufyn's energy levels, but guzzling food found lying around revitalises body and mind. The best way not to be caught is to hit the fire button, which gets our little hero to spit at attackers (not a very hygienic way of combat). Special objects can be collected to aid survival: extra firepower, increased speed, invisibility etc.

A couple of games is all it takes to realise this is a Gauntlet style 'solve the puzzle of the maze ' game which honestly bored me within a few minutes play, because I've seen this game type so many times before. Graphically it's okay with sprites monochromatic but fairly detailed. Sound consists of a twee little tune that soon annoyed me, and some barely understandable speech.

MARK ... 50%

'The second Spectrum game from Ubi Soft, Puffy's Saga is very Gauntletified! The game layout and graphics look almost identical, with just ol' Puffy himself bringing the differences. Most of the screen is monochrome with walls having just the odd splash of colour, giving the overall look a very washed out feeling. There are some new ideas in Puffy's Saga though. Unlike Gauntlet and it's many clones large animated pictures of Puffy appear on right of screen while playing, there are also larger sprites in the game itself, which have to be battled against to win. Sound is the game's strongest point with an above average tune and loads of digitised speech for that extra special touch. Puffy's Saga obviously isn't the most original game to burst onto your Spectrum screens, but if you are a fan of the style you will like this.'