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Software at a reasonable price is always welcome and it's nice to see more appearing on the market. But we want reasonable value for money and I feel that this offering falls short.

Squeakaliser, a maze type game with you playing the mouse world's answer to Clint Eastwood, didn't make my day. The half-pint-sized hero must gather a number of keys to open a box containing a giant cat-trap. This is moved round until all the cats have been eliminated from that screen.

On alternate screens the box opens to reveal sticks of dynamite that have to be handed to the cats. Unfortunately, sometimes the cat hands it back and runs off.

The idea behind the game is good. Movement of the hero is simply up, down, left and right. The sound is adequate and the graphics very cute indeed - when the hero gets his comeuppance the little birds twittering round his head are plain to see. But the game is just not properly finished off.

The opening screen starts the rot with the title, Squeekaliser, which shows that someone, somewhere can't spell.

The game uses part of the screen for memory resulting in the picture being limited by two very distracting bands of colour at the top and bottom of the display. I cannot believe that such a simple game should use that amount of memory.

One result of the limited playing area is that the remaining screen is too small to generate anything other than a very basic maze.

When the game starts you are offered a choice of two levels, known as Sheer Panic and Sweaty Palms. These would be better renamed as Sheer Boredom and Sweat It Out. The only difference between the two is that choosing the first causes all the characters to slow down to the point where it is almost impossible to cross the screen before time runs out.

Another point of frustration is that although your mouse starts with seven lives, one he is cornered and despatched by a cat, he is reincarnated in exactly the same place. This usually means the loss of all your lives.

Oh Bug-Byte, Plan B was terrific, I liked Dunjunz so much I went out and bought it myself, but for me Squeakaliser is a catastrophe.

Beejay