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The Heartland was once a happy and peaceful place until it fell under the evil rule of the ruthless Midan and his dark minions. As you read on in the book that you found in your attic you read of the ancient struggles between Midan and the good, but plump, Wizard Eldritch.

Eldritch has gone on to further heroic deeds and left the safety of the heartland in the book that you're reading.

As you near the end you discover that the last chapter is missing and that you've invoked Eldritch's spell and arrive in a strange land - the Heartland.

Dressed in the Wizard's ample clothes and top hat you begin your quest to find the six missing pages and complete the story with a happy ending. However, the evil Midan has cast these to the seven winds and created six dark pages that must be destroyed otherwise the Heartland is doomed.

Underneath this fancy plot is an excellent addition to the tried and tested platform-cum-arcade adventure game formula in which our hero must leap around the lands of Heartland searching for the missing pages while avoiding Midan's minions. These include spitting wizards and zombie-like Gooches that refuse to die. If you zap one with your hat, sword or fireball (whichever you've collected) they collapse into a pile of bones that then reassemble - and attack you again.

These weapons must be collected by well timed leaps into the air above the platforms as they float tantalisingly just beyond your reach. However, you must be wary not to jump off the platforms and into oblivion (game over) or collide with floating large stars that rapidly drain your energy.

A well-timed leap could also get you one of the pages, or a book to tell you where they are or even immunity from evil for a few valuable seconds.

Once you've collected a page you must return to the start location and your travelling bed that will then magic you to the next land and a new page and, of course, new dangers including indestructible spacemen that can slay you with a single touch.

Every time one of Midan's minions touches you, or his spells catch you, his face begins to appear. As his strength grows stronger, and yours weakens, more is revealed until you finally state at the fae of death as your game ends.

To add to your problems your quest must be completed bfore the sand runs out in the two timers at the top of the screen. These are on either side of the display showing the objects you have collected and the growing face of Midan.

Heartland features some superb graphics such as the crumbling Gooches, the loping wizards and the plant and unicorn statues that litter the background that add to an almost impossible gameplay to create an excellent game.