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Gremlin, who are usually known for their original games, have this time released an arcade clone. Krakout, you will notice, is very similar to Imagine's coin-op conversion Arkanoid.

An evil ogre has imprisoned you in a maze of thousands of bricks, you must use your bat and ball to break out of his bricklayer's prison. No, this isn't deja vu, Krakout is another tarted up version of the age old Breakout game.

The major thing about this game is the hundreds of options you are presented with. In true Gremlin style there is an options page with more options than anyone can handle.

Sound Effects: Do you want them? Music: Do you want that? Scrolling: Choose which way you want the game to scroll, or choose none at all. Ball Speed: I'm sure that most of you can understand this! Modes: This lets you choose the colour of your bat and ball, etc. You can also load new data from the disk or cassette. (This is for when you buy the Krakout Construction Set.) Reset: A totally pointless option for those people whose idea of luxury is not having to reach for the reset switch. Bat Type: You can either go for inertia or dual speed. Inertia lets you choose your speed and dual speed makes you job tougher by randoming two speeds.

What a load of old cobblers, options should make a game better but who wants that lot? I'm sure C64 owners have worked out how to reset their computer by now!

Playing Krakout is just like playing Breakout tipped on its side, but with the added options and bonuses thrown in. The bonuses are earned by hitting a brick marked with a letter. Here are the bonuses you can expect to find.

G: Glue, get this, and when you catch the ball it will stick firmly to your bat.

B: Bomb, when hit this brick it will cause an explosion blowing up all the bricks in the vicinty.

S: Shield, this puts a barrier behind so the ball can't go past and you can have a rest.

M: Missile, my favourite bonus, allows you to shoot one missile through a line of bricks.

SD: This slows the ball down.

X2: You will be given double scoring until this runs out.

D: Double bat, another bat is placed directly in front of yours to make it easier for you to catch the ball.

X: Extra man.

E: Expand; this makes your bar wider, making it a lot easier to catch the ball(s).

You can only have one bonus at a time, bt there are also other ways of getting a random bonus. Every so often a little... er... thing, will come whizzing across the screen, if you catch this a random bonus will be earned.

It is also possible to have two balls on the screen at one time by manoevuring the ball into clashing with a cloud-like thing.

Apart from these frills, Krakout's only other kink is that it has aliens on the screen; these surprisingly do not kill you. You can only lose one of your four lives by letting the ball go past. The only damage the aliens can do other than get in your way, is that the wasps found flying around can, and will, stun you.

Krakout is originally great to play, I say originally because that was until I played Arkanoid, a much superior game. Krakout has substituted options and a hundred screens for pure, compelling addiction. The graphics are quite good, as is the sound, but forget the gameplay which isn't a touch on Arkanoid.