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If there's any justice in the world Jet Boat will find its way into many Christmas stockings. It is excellent, from its redefinable control keys to its detailed graphics, from its smoothly scrolling landscapes to its icon-inspired "time-up" alarm clock at the end of the game.

The concept of Jet Boat is nothing new - controlling cars around tracks has been the staple diet of a lot of games writers since time immemorial (well, 1980, anyway). The neat twist of using a boat is well matched by the idea of holding it steady in the centre of the screen and scrolling the shoreline around it. The boat is a good chunky sprite with at least 16 orientations and the archipelago around which you race against a clock (70 seconds a lap) is well populated with castles, villages, graveyards and so on.

First time out you'll have to get used to the controls. There are only three of them - left, right and accelerate. Unplug anything you might have in the analogue port, otherwise the keyboard controls may go crazy. You should try to remember the best route through the maze of islands, since the clear run you get on the first lap is not repeated until lap 16. Laps two to 15 involve negotiating an increasing number of obstacles, from boats to crocodiles, and ducks to sea monsters. A collision with any of these, or a bank, sets the screen flashing and slows you down to a crawl.

Rewards are small. Complete a lap and you are greeted with the first bar of the Sailor's Hornpipe and the chance to go around again. The game soon becomes compulsive, though. It has a very responsive "feel" - the boat decelerates smoothly as soon as you take your finger off the accelerate key, and turns corners promptly.

Jet Boat should acquire the kind of following that A&F's Chuckie Egg attracted.