Childhood wonders revealed

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For all those who spent hours of childhood gazing down into the depths of some watery pool, wondering what was going on beneath the dark canopy of lillies and bind weed, all is now revealed.

Savage Pond, the latest release from Starcade, centres around the life of a small, helpless tadpole as it tries to survive to adulthood among the many sinister perils of the deep.

This fast moving arcade type game is set in a cross sectional representation of a typical country pond - with one or two unexpected additions.

The idea is to guide your tadpole through life, fattening it up until it develops into a fully grown adult, and then to build up a colony of thriving frogs.

You control the tadpole by using joystick or keyboard - the standard Snapper keys with the addition of the space bar and Shift.

The controls give great manoeuvreability, and you need every bit of it as you dodge about the waving tentacles of the deadly hydra, chase after the nutritious worms and fatten yourself on the plump amoeba.

As you progress the waters become ever more hazardous with the addition of jellyfish, radio-active waste and rampag ing dragonfly nymphs.

Should you survive all these you gain your first frog - a truly magnificent sight as he sits proudly on his log, lashing out his sticky tongue at the unsuspecting dragonflies above. Despite any feeling of success you might now be having, the game is far from over.

The graphics are quite spectacular with smooth, sprite-like performance equal to the best arcade games.

The use of sound was rather limited, with only single notes being used instead of the almost symphonious accompaniment given to so many of today's games. Truly the only real faults in such an excellent game.

Tarquin Thomas