Now don't switch off because I'm going to mention Sega and the Mega Drive and all those posh console things, because I'm making a valid point here, so pay attention. Back when the Mega Drive was released, everyone went 'Ooh' and 'Ahh' over its sleek black case and impressive 16-bit credentials, but practically no-one bought them. You could argue that everyone was waiting to see if it caught on or not, since no-one wanted to end up with the videogaming equivalent of a Betamax video recorder, but we know that the real reason was that all the games were crap. Altered Beast? Altered Cack, more like.

It was only when that funny hedgehog and his cool sneakers hit the shops eighteen months later that the console craze began. For once though, Commodore seem to be on the ball, and although we've only been allowed to speculate about it for the last few months, it turns out that most of the top games producers have been developing for the CD32 for ages. So, even though the machine's just been officially finished, we've now got the first-ever CD32-specific release in the form of Diggers. Altered Beast Part Deux, or Sonic 3? Read on...

Okay, so with the CD32 version you get loads of flash stuff that's far beyond the dreams of mortal Amiga owners. Rather than having a bulging manual, all the instructions are actually in the game, with more than 100 pages of info presented quite nicely in the form of a big book. There's also a moody CD soundtrack, which is suitably ambient enough to not get annoying after a few minutes, so you can dig away for hours to gentle new-age musak. Finally, there's the fact that the game comes on a CD, so you can promise to bring it round to your friend's house and then ask him smugly where his CD32 is, secure in the knowledge that he hasn't got one. One-upmanship, I love it. And I can do it far, far better than Stuart. [No, you can't, and I can beat you at Pinball Fantasies, you girl - Stuart] [Or any game for that matter, corduroy pants wearer - Stuart again]

Onto the game then, and digging is, quite obviously, the name of the game. Set on the planet Zarg, you control a digging quintuplet formed from one of four races. Each race has differing levels of stamina, patience and strength, and some have very odd mannerisms, which I'll go into later. Your team starts off next to their home base on the surface, and the idea's to collect a set number of credits before your enemy does.

Although you can only wander around the surface for a short stretch, the potential for wandering about underground is almost limitless - not infinite, but so close that you'll hardly notice. Millennium claim 34 levels spread over seven different terrain types, and that you could complete the game by seeing only a quarter of the million or so locations, and I can well believe them. You get credits by selling jewels, and you find jewels by digging tunnels. Miles and miles of tunnels.

The basic digging machines are your five miners, who will merrily dig in a specified direction until they hit solid rock, or get bored. When jewels are found, you have to instruct someone to pick them up, and then get them back to the base so you can trade them in. Thankfully, there's no need to negotiate them through the mines, as you can whoosh them back to the surface using teleportation. Once you've got cash, you can expand the scale of the operation with vertical tunnel borers, mining machines, boats, trains, explosives, bridges and all manner of gear. Obviously, this costs money, so you've got to work out whether buying a lift is more important than getting to your credit goal quickly.

All this would be far too easy without some traumas, and the main one's the fact that there's another set of miners out there doing exactly the same thing. This can work out quite nicely if you can dig into their network and grab jewels before they do, but since different races fight each other, you run the risk of your miners getting kicked in if you connect rival networks.

The second problem are the creatures that lurk in the many caves you get to. Many of the caves are cleverly designed puzzles, where you've got to buy bridge sections and lifts in order to get to the really large jewel caches, but most of them are also guarded by spooks, ghouls and alien monsters who at best scare your team, and at worst kill them.

The final problem is your tunnel network itself, which requires so much thought to plan that my head literally exploded after one particular three-hour stint. The diggers can only go up angled slopes, can't jump over vertical shafts and will always find the lowest part of the tunnel network by falling down the shafts, so you often find that by digging a new tunnel, you'll have blocked off access to large sections of the existing network.

Now all of these are taxing, game-related puzzles that improve, enhance and indeed are the main bulk of the game, but there are problems with Diggers that are nothing to do with enjoyment. It seems that the programmers got so wrapped up in the game that they never stopped to consider how the game would appear to any newcomers, and most of my gripes are related to this.

For a start, the control system is horribly awkward, and even more so if you try to use the flashy new CD32 console-type controller rather than a bog-standard mouse. If you saw that one of your guys was heading towards a extremely deep shaft that would doubtlessly end his promising career in mining, then you'd have to first click on either him or his number, then press the right mouse button to get his menu up, then on the walk icon to get the walk menu up, then finally the stop button, by which time he's probably dead anyway. You've got to go through a similar hassle to teleport out, when the logical thing would have been to have a 'stop everything' and 'teleport out' buttons next to the number of the character. A floaty number above each of them is missing as well, since when they're all on the same screen, it's difficult to tell them apart.

The different races have different characteristics and a certain degree of artificial intelligence, but unfortunately it's entirely misplaced. If they're walking towards a deep pool or a gang of enemy miners, they won't think about turning back, but if you leave them doing the same task for too long, then they'll take it upon themselves to head off the other way, teleport back to base or go and have a chat with their mates. Admittedly you get a flashing warning that they've wandered off, but when you've got four other diggers spread over a wide area, enemy miners and monsters to deal with, the last thing you need is a vital worker taking an impromptu fag break.

I can see that the idea is to create a game with more depth, but it just muddles the gameplay. Why don't the workers pick up the jewels automatically and why do you have to go through several screens before you can cash in your jewels? Once you've gone to the trading screen, you often find that you can't since there are about six types, but only three are being traded at any one time. Again, I suspect that this is supposed to 'enrich' your game, but it's just bloody annoying.

Now all this is intended to point out the shortfalls of the game, not to slag it off entirely [Clever mining pun there, Mark - Ed] so I'll finish off by picking it up off the floor, dusting its coat down and apologising to it a bit. Diggers is a fine game, and I've been playing it for hours on end, and if you like the look of it, it's unlikely that you're going to tire of it. It's pretty much a mining god sim, so you can play offensive or defensive tactics, chose to ignore the enemy or go all out to kill them. This flexibility is its main plus point, but the over-complicated control system is a major downer. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's worth buying a CD32 for, but if you've got one, then it's well worth having.

Uppers: Great music, fantastic graphics and novel gameplay, and all on a new format, too. It's possibly the hugest playing area of all time, and with four different character types it seems entirely probable that you're never going to see all of the game, even if you play it a long time. Like till the end of forever, maybe.

Downers: Interaction is needlessly complex, and many features intended to make the game more playable are just annoying. Playing over such a large area leads to confusion about where you are, and where your enemy is, and losing is such an abrupt event that it's a real let-down.

Streamlining of many of Diggers' features would have resulted in a game that would be an absolute must for all CD32 owners, but as it stands, it's a fun, but quirky, game. If you like strategy games and are into the idea of hour-long games and are into the idea of hour-long games, then you'll howl at me for not hailing this as a classic, but awkward interaction and peculiar pace stop this getting a higher score.