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"They have created a dream machine," whispers the packaging. "A New Age experience" proclaims the manual. "Something smells around here" gasps the reviewer. Yep, those good old Infogrames people have certainly gone to town on the blurb for Alpha Waves. No cringeingly arty quote is left unused - yes, it's even described as a passport to Virtual Reality! I don't know, I really don't.

Right, that's the cruel bit over with. Before we go any further I guess I'd better admit that I do actually like the game. Ignore the cover blurb though - the truth of the matter is that Alpha Waves is a kind of trampoline-cum-platform thing (if you can imagine that), set in a bizarre 3D world, and nothing to do with Virtual Reality at all. From the viewpoint of a camera constantly following your little hopper-thing's movement, you bounce up from one platform to the next until the exit to that particular room is reached - then it's onto another, harder level. There are no actual baddies (as such) in it or anything, and because of that it's pretty difficult to get your mind around how best to describe the gameplay. Erm, it's odd. It's a sort of obstacle course. Oh, I give up. (You'll have to check it out for yourselves.)

What I am sure of though is this - everything's set at a very sedate pace, and coupled with the garish colour schemes (the French have really excelled themselves here) the overall effect of the game is actually meant to alter the frequency of your brain waves, inducing varying degrees of relaxation and contentment.

Sounds like a whiffy concept to you? Good, then I'm not alone. The thing is, the idea (cuckoo though it is) still holds a certain charm, and I defy anybody to actually dislike the game. But hey, Amiga software cost a fair old amount these days, and something really has to be spectacular to make its mark. And Alpha Waves isn't.

A charming piece of French fluff. Great to come back to, but far from compulsive (and by no means essential).