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Hoorah, what a jolly little game this is. Originally released by Infogrames, this off-the-wall shoot-'em-up never really received the recognition it deserved. Now it's out at a more pocket-friendly price, though, it should be able to reveal its delights to a much wider audience.

The player is cast as an apprentice magician who, just before taking his final exams, carelessly mislaid all of the Great Wizard's spells and magic potions. Now, to even stand a chance of earning his pointy hat, he's got to go into the magical lands and retrieve the lot of them.

What follows is a slow-moving but nevertheless addictive vertical shoot-'em-up with the wizard trotting up the screen collecting the lost spells and doing battle with the myriad of nasties that accost him.

Hardly surprisingly for a game of French origin, it's very bizarre indeed, with lots of compeltely unexpected aliens (ponytailed girls and big, fat milkmaids?) and plenty of on-the-side graphical surprises.

As the wizard progresses, the spells he collects can be used like power-ups against the evil hordes. The aim of the game is essentially to reach the magic pentangle at the end of each level, so as to be transported in a shower of pixie-dust to the next. Truth be told, there's really not that much to it, but it's a great laugh, especially with two players (the second joystick controls a Golem character that jumps on enemies and crashes it).

It looks smart, plays just as well and comes heartily recommended to anyone with eight jangly pound coins burning a hole in their pocket.