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King Angoulafre, ruler of the Goblin Kingdom, has fallen gravely ill. In fact, he's more than just ill - he's gone stark-staring bonkers! The King's concerned minions elect a trio of their finest to embark on a perilous trek to the lair of Niak, a wise but irascible old wizard who is the only one capable of magicking up a cure for the King's curse.

The game takes the form of a series of 'flick' screens, each packed with mind-numbing puzzles. The three goblins each have very different powers and abilities and only by working together can they overcome the problems on the current screen and progress to the next. Stupid or rash actions can have dire consequences, often resulting in the party's energy depleting. Needless to say, but Zero Energy = Game Over.

Gobliiins seems to be an attempt by Coktel Vision to appeal to the "Lemmingsy arcade puzzler" audience. Sadly it's very unlikely to achieve the Psygnosis game's success. Sure, the well-animated goblin characters are humorously done but the game plays more like an adventure than a puzzler. In fact, the game would make a good introduction to the world of graphic adventures if it weren't for the fact that the puzzles are so damn illogical.

With Gobliiins, the unattractive shape of things to come is foretold from the very first screen. Trying to solve the problems in what seems a logical manner typically results in illogical outcomes, frequently of the game-ending kind. All too often the gameplay reduces to a charade of trial and error, with the player using every character and every 'pick uppable' item in every location and situation possible until he happens to stumble across the correct solution to the current problem.

This might have been just about bearable were it not for the annoying wait for a screen to reload if you cock up and want to approach it from a new angle. The user interface isn't perfect, either. Once assigned a task, a goblin cannot be stopped or diverted until it has been carried out - if you change your mind over a rash decision then you can't do a thing about it once the mouse button's been clicked. The program also seems to get a bit confused sometimes, with your goblins what you expected

It's sad really. Gobliiins could so easily have been a great game - there's definitely one in there somewhere trying to get out - but due to the clumsy player interface and the annoying game design elements it lands seriously wide of the mark. Gobliiins? Cobbleeers, more like.