Repton is a sparkler...

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Repton is the latest, and claimed to be the best release from Superior Software. In short, it is.

It's one of those arcade-style adventure games in which you play the part of the hero, Repton.

His mission is to retrieve all the diamonds from a series of twisting underground caves.

Unfortunately the caverns are also full of precariously balanced rocks that tend to drop on you if you dig under them.

They are often arranged so that if you loosen some before others, they fall in the wrong order and seal off the passage to certain diamonds forever.

In later caverns the diamonds lie underneath giant eggs which fall and hatch into ferocious reptiles when you take the diamond. Needless to say, they then spend all their time chasing after you.

In even later caverns you have to open a safe using a special key that you must find.

Now for the technical side.

The entire screen acts as a window on to the area of the cavern you're in, so that you can only see a sixteenth of it. As you move, the view through the window scrolls very smoothly in the appropriate direction.

Repton is a colourful green-headed character and is beautifully animated. If you don't move him, he starts looking round of his own accord...

Not to be outdone, the reptiles strike a fearsome pose with their webbed feet and yellow bellies.

The sound is optional but well implemented even so, featuring a continually-playing tune plus plenty of blips and blasts.

At any time during play you can look at a map of the entire cavern to see where the remaining diamonds are.

After completing each screen you are given a password enabling you to skip that screen in future.

There are 12 caverns in total, getting progressively harder.

All in all, this is an astounding game reaching new heights in BBC arcade adventures. So if you fancy yourself as Indiana Jones, go out and buy it today!

Phil Tudor