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When you first load up Wonder Boy, you'll be forgiven for thinking "Hmmm, what's this?" But give it a chance. Get through the first level and you might just find yourself getting hooked by this cute little game.

I must admit, here at C&VG, we'd all been thoroughly spoiled by playing Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo Games Systems - and Wonder Boy is in the same mould. So when you go back to a similar style game on the C64 you approach it with different feelings...

Wonder Boy starts off on a long, hazardous journey, his ultimate mission to rescue his girlfriend Tina, kidnapped by the evil King. King lives in a faraway place, across seven treacherous territories. Each territory is made up of four lands, each land consists of four areas.

When you have reached the end of each territory, you will have to defeat a mad Ogre to progress to the next level.

On your way, jump over various obstacles including boulders and bonfires and kill attacking nasties such as bees, snakes and killer frogs.

Whenever you see a giant egg, open it, as it will always have something for you such as a skateboard or a fairy who may protect you for a while.

Do not forget to boost your strength and collect bonus points by eating exotic fruit or junk food.

At the top left of the screen the number of lives remaining is shown. Just beneath this, there is a box which will display the stone-axe when you have picked it up.

Immediately to the right of the box are three icons representing the first three lands; upon completing a land the icon for that land will light up.

When the last of the three icons is lit, they will scroll off revealing a new land to be completed.

Midway at the top of the screen, your score and the highest score achieved are shown. Under this is your Vitality Meter which may be topped up by collecting objects or finishing a land.

You must get to the end of a land before this reads zero. Any vitality you have left at the end of a land will be converted into a bonus score.

You'll find useful objects inside eggs - like the stone axe or a fairy (!) who will protect you for a while before flying off.

You lose items when you did and lose the axe you might as well forget about continuing. It's a vital bit of equipment and you just won't be able to go beyond the first territory without it.

There's a frog who needs a good hammering before he gets out of your way near the end. This makes the game frustrating - it's no challenge if you lose a life early on and *know* you just can't get any further whatever you do.

So look before you leap and go slowly, eating *all* the food you can find. Your vitality shrinks rapidly - effectively giving a time limit for each territory.

When I first found the fairy didn't know what to do with it - but you can walk through nasties unscathed while it hovers overhead.

Joystick controls are a bit awkward - you don't press the fire button to jump - just push the stick up. This doesn't sound too difficult but, strangely enough, it is.

And when you've mis-timed a jump and lost the axe, you're just about ready to throw the stick through the screen!

If you liked the coin-op then you probably will enjoy the computer version. It's a bit too cute for my taste - the sort of game your sister would like!

The graphics are of the "pretty" variety - and the animation of the Wonder Boy character is pretty dodgy, on the C64 version. All that moves are his legs.

Reasonably addictive and pretty playable. And miles better than the C64 version of Enduro Racer, Activision's last coin-op offering. Commodore owners should give it a whirl but a tenner for a Spectrum game...? Really?

I don't think you'll get many takers at that price.