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I'll be honest. There's a tendency when reviewing C16 games to make allowances for the software because of the machine's limitations. You find yourself saying "What do you expect with only 16K and no hardware graphics support". But then excellent games have been produced on the C16; the Berks trilogy, for instance. Kaktus doesn't come into that category, though it's by no means bad either.

To describe it simply, there's a cactus (cactus ginormus to be precise) smack in the middle of the screen. There are hordes of wasps and hornets bearing down on it aiming to munch it to bits. You, the budding cactophile, must save it by blasting the bugs out of the sky. Simple as that.

There are a few added problems. You must protect the cactus on both sides and you can only do this by going underground, no problem as you can easily re-emerge through a hole. Except there's a mole who keeps blocking them up. Also, the wasps drop stuff all over the place (I'll leave it to your imagination to guess what it is), contact with this is deadly. Not surprising when you see what it does to the ground. Oh, I almost forgot. After a while this buzzard appears and drops eggs on you; this has the same effect as the wasp do.

So there you are. It's a straight fight between you and the flatulent wasps for control of the Kaktus. At the end of each screen bonus points are awarded depending on how much of the prickly plant you've managed to salvage. A pretty elementary game, but one that will appeal to the less experienced maybe.