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Another popular one from Audiogenic that I didn't like the last time I reviewed it, which only goes to show how much influence I have!

Mangrove is a cross between Life and Asteroids in style but with a biological scenario. You must enlarge and protect your colony of cells by leaving baby cells in the wake of your cursor as you chase the invading killer microbes. Since your baby cells and the main culture only survive the passage of the generations according to the usual rules of Life, you can't just leave your baby cells anywhere or they will not survive; and you can't let a part of the main colony get cut off or it will die too. Clump them, clump them!

Apart from your skill with the cursor you have an emergency suppy of germicide. But this must be used sparingly - that is, three times per game. The passing of the generations happens with ever-increasing speed, so it can all get very hectic. The sonics get very hectic too, even though they are not very original. The graphics are clear but not very clever, and I am still not thrilled by the game.

So what makes it so popular? Well, it is very hard to play; your cell culture dies off at an alarming rate and those killer microbes and new generations come faster and faster. So if you think you can handle a tough one this is well worth checking out; but a lesser games player may find the overall presentation on screen a bit uninteresting.