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Monolith's Rockford's Riot is the sequel to Beyond's Boulder Dash, featuring the same stick-like, foot-tapping character.

Guide Rockford around a boulder-strewn maze and pick up as many jewels as the diamond-crazed little chap can hold. Boulders hang precariously and the lightest touch will send them tumbling and crashing.

There are sixteen caverns - each progressively more difficult. Getting past the deadly fireflies on the first level is no easy task and working out how to activate an enchanted wall may make you run off screaming. Luckily the demo mode gives a clue.

Butterflies and deadly amoeba feature in later stages. You can use the boulders to block off passageways, turn the butterflies into diamonds or merely squash them.

As in Boulder Dash, movement is smooth, although scrolling is jerky and the graphics are basic. The game takes a while to reset when a life is lost and that becomes frustrating.

Having said that, there are some very real problems to overcome.

Rockford's Riot is packaged - in a ludicrous vertical box crowned by a luminous disc - with Boulder Dash, so you see exactly how similar both games are.