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Decent arcade puzzles on the C64 are few and far between. The only good ones that come to mind are Confuzion and Split Personalities. I'm afraid to say that Collapse will not be joining the list.

Collapse is a simple arcade puzzle from Firebird, which puts you in the role of Zen - a magical teddy bear. On loading you are presented with a pattern of grey sticks and badges mounted on a grid of dots. The idea of the game is to walk over the grey sticks and paint them blue.

The use of Zen's magic makes all the Sticks collapse on each other - in a chain reaction. When all the sticks have gone, you progress to the next screen where a more complex matrix and increasingly persistent aliens lie in wait.

If Zen comes into contact with either of the two aliens that inhabit all of the ninety-six screens a hundred units of time are drained from the countdown. Luckily time can be replenished with diamonds that appear randomly around the screen. If the clock reaches zero Zen loses one of his three lives.

Collapse is a rather poor attempt to raise some of the frustration and pure addictiveness of other puzzles like Confuzion. It didn't even prise a swearword out of me, never mind stamping on my C64 in a frenzied rage. For the sake of you readers I endured this game for a long time just to see if it held any secrets. I can safely inform you that it doesn't and is a deeply boring game.

Firebird must have thought they were on to a good thing with the game because both graphics and sound have been totally ignored. The graphics are of type-in standard and are totally dire. The animation of Zen is diabolical and the few sprites which exist are of 1983 standard. The all-round graphical presentation of Collapse is very 'amateurish'.

The same goes for the sound, a few boring spot effects during the game which don't really inspire at all.

All in all, Collapse looks very antiquated. It has all the characteristics of an early game - crude graphics, unimaginative effects and boring, unrewarding gameplay. Even at two quid it falls far short of today's standards.