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This unusual game makes a pleasant change from the current trend for shoot-'em-ups with scrolling bas relief backgrounds. Gary Partis has come up with an original and simple game. The object of which is to guide a bouncing ball along a track that runs through space.

The track is made up of multicoloured squares which stretch off into the distance. Touching different squares has various effects. The magenta squares cause the ball to bounce and the cyan squares reverse the controls! Other colours have yet other effects. The track also has holes in it which the ball can easily fall into. You can move the ball left and right and speed it up and down, the RETURN key makes the ball bounce. Each of the sixty plus tracks has a time limit. Falling through a hole causes a large loss of time, as does pressing the bounce key.

Gameplay is frustratingly difficult and very addictive with that 'just one more go' feel about it. Things can get unbelievably hectic at times leaving you feeling quite exhausted after playing. As you speed up along the track the coloured squares move faster and faster until they are just a blur on the screen. A droning noise increases in pitch as the ball speeds up and this adds to the atmosphere. The game is for one to four players which is good for group competitions.

In the graphics department the game is of a very high standard. The score panel is designed in bas relief (pressed metal) and looks very smart. The multicoloured track moves smoothly and very fast. The only thing I found disappointing was the ball. This was a white circle with a line pattern on which did little to indicate a spinning motion. Apart from this and the game being just a little too hectic at times I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. The scrolling message shown on the title screen is interesting, if not a little crude. Audiogenic is to be congratulated for producing another quality game for Electron owners to snap up. Missing this game will seriously damage your software collection!

Matthew Fifield