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He's back! And he's going to need to wear a pair of asbestos underpants 'cos he's up against it this time (oo-er). He must free the trouble ridden residents of Wonderland from the vile and tortuous attentions of the ferocious fire breathing and general all round fascist no good, MEKA dragon it sounds like a tall order but our diminutive little hero Tom Tom the wonder boy, rises to the occasion with stunning bravado and guts a great conversion of the Sega coin op.

Okay, enough of the blurb, what about the game? Well, the game play is brilliant; Tom Tom must work his way from screen to screen destroying the ever present nasties as he goes. He begins his quest with no shoes and no shield and no money. He does however, have the benefit of a large weapon (chorf) and little morals (shame!), 'cos when he knifes a nasty, they usually leave behind a present of either gold pieces or bonus points. And what does our super goody little megastar do? He robs the bodies faster than you can say "You grave robbin' little bleeder". Occasionally mystery prizes will be left behind which can be anything - even some of the more useful items (and more about them later). Your gold total is shown on the left of the screen and filling Tom Tom's pockets is a crucial part of the game.

Play is a left, right, sproing affair with the fire button being used to add a little wellie to the proceedings. The space bar is used to open the variety of doors that can be found along the way and this is where the game gets its major plus points from. Open a door and lo, there's a shop where you can buy assorted goodies, a bar for a little chattlet, or... a dirty great sword wielding, death spitting baddie. If you have the moronic misfortune to pick the latter and are lucky enough to come out of it alive, oodles of dosh is left behind all of which can be used in the shops and taverns to strengthen Tom Tom's chances of coming out of it all alive.

There are five hearts which show Tom Tom's current health which slowly chip away with each bash by a nasty. There's also a Rip Van Winkle candle which burns slowly down until it gently splutters out - you can replenish them however by finding an hourglass.

Any special items that you find or buy (like bombs or whirlwinds are shown as an icon in the items box and better weapons with a greater bashing value are shown in terms of +1, +2 in the weapons box.

The graphics are very good - fat and colourful they are nicely defined and well animated. They don't work quite as well against more complicated backdrops but we can forgive these small criticisms because the overall feel of the game is great.

Label: Activision Author: Images Price: £9.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Garth Sumpter

The stuff that dreams are made out of. Brilliant!