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Splat is the sound tomatoes or small animals make when they hit a wall and it's fairly similar to what the games packaging does to your eye. The cover has a background of silver, reflecting light in garish, spectral tones, and it demands your attention.

The game inside is worthy of this attention - it's a maze game with a difference. You control Zippy, a character that can be moved left, right, up, or down through a maze where the occasional clump of grass lies waiting to be eaten.

Thus far, it sounds like Hungry Horace, and indeed, the sound effects when the grass is eaten are virtually identical. Unlike Horace, Zippy has a maze which has many times larger than the screen.

The screen drifts randomly around the maze, and if its boundaries catch up with Zippy, he's splattered. This can happen very easily - when, for example, he's caught between a maze wall and an approaching screen wall, or if he lingers too long on a grass outcrop.

There are seven levels of play, and a graduation to the next level is achieved by surviving in the last. The percentage of time elapsed is shown and when it's complete, the Spectrum will surprise you by saying 'Yippee', an achievement in itself considering the limited system.

The second level offers plums as well as grass, and the new hazard of water, in which Zippy drowns. On level 3 there's spikes to avoid, and with each level the maze moves faster.

Zippy himself is not much of a character, being merely a cross with feet. He scuttles around quickly, hence the name, and it's easy to move him. If you don't have a Kempston or AGF joystick. you can define your own keyboard keys. This is an idea so brilliant other software houses should be forced to adopt it.

Incentive Software are offering a prize for the best score before mid-January, but you'll need no incentive to play this game again and again. It's one of those that keep you up well beyond bedtime.

If Horace hooked you, Zippy will amaze you with his moving maze. Splat could well become another classic.