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At the edge of the cosmos lies a forlorn rock which no-one bothered to give a proper name to. One such case is Pum. Pum is the home of two dossers of the necromanitc world: an old jaky of a magician called Wiz, and his meths-drinking incontinent old china Liz (and their collection of rabbits). Unsurprisingly, no-one goes to visit.

Except one day, a strange spangly force erupted from their cauldron and seized all the rabbits, for use in a new MacDonalds 'Tastes of the Galaxy' promotion. Both sorcerers were heart-broken at the loss of the furry friends, and set to mixing a Gate spell to Surger World, where the mammals were being held. A flurry of rabbit-grabbing is their objective in the 'hare-raising' collection game.

Intriguing...

Wiz 'N Liz are the creations of Psygnosis, and the main game is an original concept.

Enter each land and collect the rabbits within the time limit. Mix spells to gain bonuses.

Rabbits are being held in a series of lands, located off doors in a corridor of Limbo. Each land has different scenery elements, but the basic layout of platform levels is much the same on each. Wiz 'N Liz collect the rabbits in two stages. When they first enter the level, hitting rabbits releases the letters of a bizarre word, shown at the top of the screen.

When all the letters are filled in, the exit is revealed. Next, the wizards must nab a certain number of rabbits to open the exit and escape. Here, time is the enemy.

Two shops are opened with the right spells. The magic shop allows you to trade stars for ingredients. Some of the higher-priced ingredients aren't found on game levels, and their spell effects are really powerful. The other shop offers hints, again for a star fee. Some are useful, but the cheap ones are pretty obvious!

In between rounds, the wizards travel to Pum to mix spells. Any two fruit items make a spell (including the same types). Spells are mixed in the cauldron. There are dozens of spell effects, ranging from extra stars to extra time, hints, secret doors and sub games, or sometimes nothing at all. Mapping the effect of each mix is a crucial part of the game.

Rabbit picking has its own rewards. Bonus items float up from the pick-up point, and should be grabbed before they go out of reach.

1. Stars
   Stars are used as currency in 'Ye Olde Magic Shoppe'. They buy fruit, time or lives.
2. Time Tablets
   At the end of the round each tablet converts to three seconds of extra time.
3. Bonus Letters
   These blue letters form 'Bonus' at the bottom of the screen, allowing entry to an item laden bonus round.
4. Time Pill
   One rabbit holds this, only releasing it in the last 20 seconds, it offers a vital 30 second reprieve.
5. Magic Fruit
   Each player has a fruit-o-meter. Rabbits release the fruit with each one collected increasing the meter, to the point where a magic item of that fruit is granted. Players stock their magic fruit back on Pum, to use as spell ingredients. But fruit spoils!

Games within the game are an integral part of Wiz 'N Liz. Old arcade favourites like Space Invaders, Pong, Breakout and Snake are hidden, requiring the rght spell to reveal paths to them. Playing them is a way of boosting your score.

At the end of each set of lands, it is your reward/punishment to face a huge boss creature and finally get to use some destructive magic. Look out for a killer Pot Plant, a Snake and a big skull wth groping bits.

Wiz 'N Liz don't meet in solo games, but two may play head-to-head. The screen splits horizontally to show the action of both players. The aim is simple: get out of the level first. Players play for control of a fixed number of lands, with best of three rounds in each. There's no spell part to the game.

Psygnosis games are becoming very pretty. Wiz 'N Liz is so polished, you can practically see your face in it. The graphics are sharp, detailed and wonderfully animated. I also love the sound, which has dozens of boppy tunes with catchy melodies.

But the game behind it all is astonishingly slim, if original. Without any enemies to hinder you, the game is a blinding rush against the clock. Fine, but apart from sharpening reflexes, there's no strategies to develop as you get further into 56 levels. Okay, the spell elements, the sub-games, and the bosses all add something, but the core of the game is very basic. The two-player mode is great fun, in a skill-less sort of way, a bit like computer 'Snap'. I really like Wiz 'N Liz at the moment, but I don't know if I will in a month's time.

Presentation 95%
P. Virtually flawless. Nice intro and options screen. One- and two-player games, game length and skill settings too.

Graphics 91%
P. The wizard and rabbit sprites are brilliant, and the backgrounds for each land are well drawn. The split screen is mega-fast and works well.
N. Some graphics are a bit too small to spot easily.

Sound 90%
P. A sort of Captain Sensible meets Erasure melange, which sounds ace!
N. The cutesy music sets some teeth on edge...

Playability 86%
P. The turbo-paced rabbit collecting is immediately compulsive. The head-to-head is a really good two player game.
N. Each of the 56 levels features similar and very basic gameplay.

Lastability 80%
P. The two-player option is evergreen, and the hidden sub-games and spells encourage a lot of experimentation.
N. The action is a bit two-dimensional and the only real enemy is the clock.

Overall 85%
Wiz 'N Liz is a cleverly executed collecting game, which will grab everyone in the short-term. It's a bit too simple but there is more to it than meets the eye.