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White Magic is game two from The Fourth Dimension who produced the excellent Holed Out. Unfortunately, it doesn't follow suit. 'Unfortunately' is a word which could be used quite liberally in describing this game. It doesn't seem to have an awful lot going for it.

To begin with, it is clearly borrowed from the once popular The Gauntlet in that it is the adventures of four different explorers in a mighty castle.

White Magic is only for one player but it is possible to swap between four characters during play to exploit the different capabilities of each.

The Leprechaun has little in the way of strength or armour but has a bow and arrows and can run like the wind. The Titan is a hefty great Arnold-character but is limited in the use of magical potions. Moriana is the fearless warrior and she is best used in hand-to-hand combat with her deadly sword. Finally the Enchanter is practised in the use of white magic but useless in fights.

Like The Gauntlet, the idea is to collect the treasure and keys then head for the exit. Also, as in The Gauntlet, the characters each have statistics on health points, armour values, weapon strength, magical strength and so on.

These seven items plus a picture of each on screen the whole time limits the playing area but is the reason why the game is pleasantly smooth.

There is fungus, or rather 'rank vines' that grows Repton-style, but it can be munched though for the price of a few health points. The game itself is quite large with 32 levels and there is a facility for practising each one in turn.

One of the skills involved in playing White Magic is knowing when to change characters. Even after practice I found difficulty in remembering the statistics.

I found there was too much detail on the screen - and this makes the display look messy. However, as the Beeb never got a taste of The Gauntlet-mania until now, the game deserves some recognition for this feat.

I would have thought a much better version was possible and can only hope the Archimedes one holds more water.

Sam Greenhill