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Turmoil owes a debt to the girders-and-ladders games that have appeared in droves this year, but has a certain bizarre individuality that saves it.

The hero, Mick Mechanic, is an obvious descendant of long-suffering Mario, but instead of rescuing Fay Wray, he has to collect oil from a dripping tank and carry it to a grille, where after filtering through, each drop makes a bit more car appear. When the full car has been drawn in, you win the frame.

This procedure is not without hazards, because roaming up and down the ladders, along the ledges, and bounding off the trampolines are a number of irate Arabs. It isn't easy to avoid them, and if they catch Mick they give him a jolly good hiding. They can be made to slip up on drops of oil though.

This annoyed me a little. Arabs are an easy target, becasue they're seen to be rich, but I do not find funny the use of any ethnic group as arcade baddy. After all, what next? Happy eye-rolling, melon-eating darkies with anatch'l sense o' riddem? Or thick micks (like this reviewer) with a predilection for alcohol (that last bit is true in my case)?

Getting off the soap-box, in spite of this, Turmoil isn't bad. There are about seven different screens, and the game is challenging enough. I just wish people would stick to aliens and killer robots...