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An economist will tell you that there is always an upside to every downturn, and to accompany a dwindling number of bookings for more up-market restaurants there has been a surge in sales in the fast food industry, and whilst such establishments are riding high, competition increases amongst them. To win the battle to be the market leader in this cut-throat world, what is needed is 'free' toys to be bundled with value (child-orientated) meals - or so you would be lead to believe if you take any notice of Bob Smith's latest Sinclair ZX Spectrum game, Factory Daze.

As a new employee working on the production line of the UK's biggest biodegradable fast food toy supplier, you are tasked with simply ensuring the right moulding is set on up to four stamps per order.

There is usually an allowance, which means a few mistakes can be made along the way (on the first level, you will need to get four out of five correct, for instance).

At the top left-hand corner of the screen, the production process begins as a mixer spews out a coloured blob, which tells you what it's supposed to end up as, and there is up to four 'wizards' which will help you that auto-detect the colour and selecting the right stamp on your behalf. You only have five of these throughout the game, and so they should be used sparingly, as things can become a bit manic after level 18.

Things start off at a sedate enough pace, with the difficulty curve being almost perfect, first with just two types of toys to make and controlling only one of the four lines (and needing to meet a quota of four from five blobs of plastic), and varying thereafter with up to 40 unmoulded splotches and seven differing toys to be manufactured, whilst controlling all four conveyor belts at times. The speeds in which the unmoulded plastics ascend also varies, but this is relative to the number of lines you have to set.

Miss your quota, and you're on a warning, followed by a written warning for the second misdemeanour and finally being fired for the third. There is no way to increase the number of wizards available, nor is there anything that will appease the boss once you've missed just one of your targets, but there is a very useful password system so that you can continue more or less where you left off at last time.

There is very little to complain about with Factory Daze. The pace of the game varies from sedate to frantic, but even as you get through some of the more pedestrian stages, you get a mental work out. All levels can be completed without any loss of mouldings but when there is a lot happening on the screen, especially when all four lines need to be set, it is difficult to process everything quickly enough.

This might be just me and other more mentally agile players may find this a whole lot easier.

I should mention the music, by Lee du-Caine, which is superb, whilst aesthetically everything is clean and clear with no colour attribute clash as promised on Bob's website. Some of the characters have been provided by Jonathan Cauldwell and Javier Vispe Mur too, so it's a joint effort. I've managed to get a bit over two-thirds through the 29 levels, and it has me hooked. This is one of the best Spectrum releases that you'll see this year.

In summary, an extremely well-designed and frantic puzzle-type affair that'll have you hooked for hours.

Product: Factory Daze
Price: £Free (download), £TBA (cassette)
Developer: Bob Smith (www.bobs-stuff.co.uk)
Publisher: Self-published
Platform: Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128K