This is one of those games where I would like to take the programmer by the hand and give it a good shake. Very rarely do I get addicted to a game, but this one had me playing until early in the morning.
You are met by a superb title screen, and from there it gets better. The game has everything going for it, stunning graphics, superb scrolling, neat sound effects and the cutest little hero you would ever want, Rockford the rockmite.
Gameplay is as for the original Boulderdash and equally as addictive, and we now have it in the shops for a fantastic £2.99.
Rockford must search through each cave and collect as many jewels in as short a time as possible. Once this is done, a door to an escape tunnel will appear. This is the easy part of the game, and luckily the boulders scattered around the screen fall in predictable patterns.
This does however leave the growing amoebas, fireflies and butterflies. You will have to kill them to turn them into jewels.
And a great deal of thinking and strategy is required if you want to survive.
You start with three lives and gain an extra one for every 500 points scored. Another life is also gained if you succeed in finishing a bonus screen.
There are sixteen caves (A-P) to conquer each consisting of several scrolling screens, not including the four intermission screens.
Each cave has give difficultly levels and you have a choice of four caves from which you can start (A,E,I or M).
You can choose a combination of level and starting cave from the main menu using the joystick. On levels four and five you must start in cave A.
Rockford's animation is superb; if you leave him standing around for too long he stamps his foot and blinks at you.
If you haven't been initiated into the world of Rockwell yet, here is your chance so don't miss out!