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Yet another Amstrad game from France. Also, yet another arcade adventure. The French seem to be incapable of producing any other type of game of any real quality.

The Amazing Shrinking Man is different to most adventure games as it comes in two parts and has a very flexible format. The plot concerns a luckless scientist who has drunk some of his own potion and shrunk. In part one of the game you have to rummage around in a rubbish bin to find the parts of the formula that make up the antidote. You also have to collect the various ingredients needed.

As well as this you have to eat apple cores, to keep mind and body together, and avoid all the pitfalls of an average rubbish bin! And you have to get out of the bin to safety - this comes in part two.

The game works on the shift principle where, as the character approaches one side of the screen, it shifts onto the next screen. This technique is used to good effect and so it doesn't look lke you are moving from room to room.

The graphics are quite colourful, using the Amstrad's sixteen-colour mode. However, the reduction in resolution that this entails has resulted in a lot of objects being indistinct.

Also, as most of the objects are very large - to make the scientist look small - this makes the screen look rather cluttered. The slight perspective, which means the scientist can move behind the objects, can also make things somewhat confusing.

In section two, you have to put the formula onto a blackboard and make up the appropriate antidote whilst avoiding various insects.

Like most French games of this type, they are very good if you like them but extremely boring if you don't. Also, similar English games are just as good and tend to be budget-priced, reflecting the maturity of the two markets.

A nicely put together game if confusing at times but not as good as Infogrames' previous offerings.