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Wizworld was a peaceful and colourful place - until the evil Zark and his horrible henchsprites drained its life and colour, leaving behind them a grey, drab and generally unhappy world.

Enter our two gallant heroes - Wiz and his cat, Nifta. Together, they alone can restore the lost life, laughter - and more importantly, colour - to this desolate waste.

Wizworld is split into eight levels, stacked on top of each other like a giant sandwich, with Level One at the bottom. To enable the Wiz to move and breathe more easily, he magically shrinks himself and steps inside a highly manoeuvrable ball - the "Wizball". The screen scrolls as the Wiz negotiates the landscape in his strange, spherical vehicle.

Only three adjacent incomplete levels can be accessed at any time - thus, Level Four can only be accessed when Level One is complete, Level Five with Level Two is complete and so on. Wiz moves between levels through a series of tubes - arrows half-hidden in the landscape indicating whether the tube leads up or down.

Initially, moving the joystick left or right spins the ball, causing it to bounce when it hits the ground. A pearl appears when a molecule or eight aliens have been shot - collecting this orb highlights an icon at top of screen, and a quick waggle of the joystick adds the highlighted feature to Wiz's armoury.

Zark's sprites inhabit each level, some floating harlessly, others spewing a deadly hail of bullets. Bubbles of colour also float around, bursting when shot and releasing a droplet of coloured chemical. However, droplets can only be collected by Nifta the Cat, who appears when his corresponding icon has been lit and activated.

Holding down the fire button transfers control to Nifta, allowing him to collect colour droplets and fill the respective mini-cauldron at the bottom of the screen. Depending on the target colour, a fourth, mini-cauldron fills up. Yellow is made by collecting red and green droplets in equal proportions. Orange requires a great proportion of red - it's worth bearing in mind that equal proportions of red, green and blue make white. However, should the colour mixing prove too overwhelming, you can always simply collect as much of each colour as possible.

Collecting a grey droplet endows the cat with 128 lives, whereas a black droplet makes the scenery go dark - vision is restored by shooting a specified number of aliens. Catching a light blue droplet results in a 'Filth Raid' - sirens blaring and blue lights flashing, six ships zoom in for the kill. A carelessly consumed purple droplet drives the cat insane, causing him to zip around the screen miaowing with range until he's killed. The white droplet gives an extra life.

Levels are completed by collecting and mixing the three missing colours, while completing a colour takes the Wizard into a bonus section set in outermost space. Aliens appear in formation, and shooting 255 of them gains an extra life - another extra life is collected halfway through the bonus stage. When the bonus level is complete or the Wiz dies, he enters the Wizlad, where his ball is left at a parking meter, the colour is put into the landscape, and a permanent weapon can be initiated. If Nifta is alive at this point, his nine lives are replenished.

When all three colours have been put back into a landscape, you are treated to a view of your work while bonus points are added to your score. Complete all eight levels and... well, that's for you to find out.

At last, something to enthuse about! Wizball appears like a breath of fresh air to our tired old C64's, being the most polished and well-presented game to appear for months!

It's fun to play too - difficult mind you, but fun. It's certainly a very individual concept and has loads of neat touches like the 'Filth Raid', the mini Mount Rushmore landscape, the squeal of the cat when he's close to dying, the gorgeous animation when the Wizball appears and... I could go on and on.

No single aspect has been compromised for the sake of another: the music and sound effects are great, the control is good, the gameplay's structure is excellent, and the entire package is very cleverly designed.

Miss this and you're missing the best program of the year.

Sensible Software have designed Wizball with the player in mind - it's extremely user-friendly. What I find most impressive though, is that the concept and execution is so tight that there's very little room for improvement.

It's a distinctly professional production, its style and content placing it head and shoulders above existing software.

The control method is initially awkward, but adds to the playability when mastered. Wizball is simply brilliant - one of the best-presented, more graphically and aurally attractive and addictive pieces of software available.

Wizball is undoubtedly the finest release so far this year. The scenario and game design are so original that it's almost off-putting at first, but it only takes a short time to master controlling the Wizball and cat and then work out exactly what's going on.

Playing is a joy, and there's plenty of entertainment for anyone who's willing to attempt colouring in the landscape. The graphics, sound and general presentation are second to none, and combined with the thoughtful attention to detail and the comprehensive series of game variations, you end up with something rather special.

Don't delay, go to your software shop and say, "Mr. Retailer, swiftly hand me a copy of Wizball so that I can go home and play it forthwith."

Presentation 98%
Brilliant - flawless if it wasn't for the slightly confusing instructions. Superb attract sequence complete with high-score table and Wiztips, plus restart and pause feature, multi-player and team options, intelligent joystick sensing, a novel control mode and no need to use the keyboard to activate weapons!

Graphics 92%
Attractive backdrops and landscape features, reasonable sprites and good use of colour.

Sound 96%
Fabulous title tune and jingles, and good spot effects.

Hookability 81%
Not instantly playable, but highly addictive once the concept and control mode is grasped.

Lastability 92%
Action-packed and compulsive, with eight increasingly difficult landscapes to colour in.

Value For Money 95%
An essential purchase.

Overall 96%
A superlative piece of software. Slick in virtually every aspect, wholly original and immensely playable.