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Eeeuuuurggghhh! A bat, a ball. Bounce the ball and what d'ya get? BreakOut! Yes, Jinks is another clone. However, here the BreakOut idea has evolved to where it is barely recognisable. The plot is original, though it doesn't work very well with the game. Let me explain...

For a long time, it has been thought that the planet Atavi was technically underdeveloped. Your mission is to go down onto the planet and collect samples of their technical data (or bounce a ball off some bricks).

The bat is now called a glider and can shift up as well as left to right. You can use the flat side of the bat to keep the ball bouncing in the same direction, or, by pressing fire your bat performs a flip and the ball bounces off at an angle.

Instead of being played on a static screen, the playing area covers roughly six scrolling screens, which means it's easy to lose track of the ball.

The ball is also influenced by gravity, and sometimes another object veers the ball from its path.

Apart from the bricks there are other bonus objects to hit such as tiny versions of Earth and teddy bears. To hinder you, the programmers have left huge mouths and an assortment of odd aliens.

If you get bored with your current level, a well-timed wallop should send the ball flying into the exit. Then you get the bonus screen where you can choose on which of the four levels to continue your game. There is one snag; the numbers corresponding to the levels are dotted around the screen, and you have to bounce your ball into one of them.

As time draws on, the game gets tougher. More traps appear and the nasties get nastier. But the game has only four levels. And four levels for twenty quid is bad news. On the other hand, the graphics are really good in places.

The sound is also colourful with loads of twangy noises and samples. But the game is let down by the lack of levels and by the fact that all the levels are basically the same (graphics apart). Expensive for what is on offer, although an improved version with more levels would not go amiss.