Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Especially if there's a fairground there.

That's what the star of Theme Park Mystery thought when he inherited the strange collection of rides, shows and coin-operated games which, for reasons unbeknownst to him, had been closed down for some time. Stepping into the funfair, he stuck a token into one of the machines and began to play...

This mysterious theme park consists of four levels, with names as weird as the places they belong to; places such as Futureland and Yesterdayland. The game begins in a small arcade, where you must win enough tokens to buy a monorail ticket, allowing you to enter the main game. And once you're there, well... don't ask me! I wasn't given any instructions either!!

There's only one word to sum up Theme Park Mystery - surreal! I mean, where else can you jump on a monorail and, in the process, transform into a Dark Age barbarian, or a suitably kitted-out spaceman? And then there's the dream sequence, which appears whenever you take a sip of Sleep potion - the screen switches to a view of a chessboard; touching the chess-pieces makes them turn into chequered boxes, and throwing keys at the boxes reveals items. Be careful though, as some of the pieces turn into snakes! Weird.

Graphically, Theme Park Mystery is of very high quality, with some charming touches such as the floating pyramid which transforms your character in the monorail, and the graphics are backed up by equally impressive sound effects. The only thing is, it's such a strange concept that you could end up hanging yourself from the nearest oak beam in frustration!

And, what's worse, Image Works have declined to give out any instructions whatsoever or even clues in the packaging!

As long as you remember that Theme Park Mystery is probably the strangest game you will have played so far, you should have no qualms about sticking it in your drive and playing for quite some time.