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Not an antipodean history lesson, but a coin-op conversion that first surfaced two years ago. You play the role of Tiki, a kiwi (daft bird that can't fly), and your one-kiwi mission is to rescue twenty of your peers before they get eaten by a walrus (fat fish with tusks).

New Zealand Story is a multi-directional scrolling platform game, consisting of twenty fairly short stages. There's a comrade to rescue on each stage, and a very strict time limit in which to do it. Take too long and an unkillable nasty will appear, sending poor Tiki to that great kiwi fruit in the sky.

Other enemies include mine-hurling snails, boomerang-throwing trappist monks, walking Smiths Square Crisps, and various other dubious adversaries to make you wonder what game designers put in their coffee. Despatch these foes with your trusty bow and arrow, and celebrate with point-increasing food and firepower-increasing weaponry.

When New Zealand Story first appeared, most versions of the game drew widespread praise, and it soon became a best-seller. The CPC version was received rather more tepidly, due to some of the worst concrete-pixelled Amstrad graphics of all time! Less damning but equally irritating is a multi-load that requires each of the twenty stages to be loaded individually. Tape owners should be prepared for a lot of tea breaks.

Having said that, the game has plenty to recommend it. It's very easy to get into, and a bucketload of increasingly difficult screens should keep your trigger finger well occupied. Gameplay is admirably varied, with plenty of ballooning and underwater shenanigans on the cards.

Basically, The New Zealand Story is a brilliant game with no dress sense. Get stuck in, and try to ignore sprites that look like they were designed in half an hour after a lengthy liquid lunch.

Overall 76%
Dreadful graphics mar what could have been an absolute classic.