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There are times when it would be quite a relief to forget about Pengwyn and its numerous derivatives; a relief obviously not shared by Micro Power. This software house used to be a guarantee of an inventive new game or a solid adaptation of an arcade favourite, but several recent releases have rather undermined this position and Plutonium Plunder does little to restore it.

The new zingy cassette artwork suggests great things and the tape loads an initial screen, offering the player the opportunity to select his or her preferred keys - always a good sign. Once into the game proper, however, you realise what you're up against.

A number of 'hexoid pods' make up the walls of the maze and may be either shot up or propelled towards the marauding gnomes by different combinations of the direction and fire keys. Once these are out of the way, the four plutonium canisters of the title have to be pushed through a periodically open door to complete the screen.

Later further hazards are presented to hamper progress. The periphery of the screen is energised to a notional one million volts (CEGB permitting), and the hero of the saga performs neat pirouettes and drunken stumbles should he come into contact with it or any of the assorted nasties. Three lives later, you're asked to join the ranks of the famous, but very dead, in the Hall of Fame.

It really is about time that selling an arcade game relied on more than multi-coloured, smoothly-animated sprites and a storyline creamed from an early Asimov novella. Micro Power can come up with good, innovative games (most recently Jet Power Jack offered some interesting variations on a theme), but to my way of thinking, there's not nearly enough difference between Rubble Trouble and Plutonium Plunder to warrant the transmission of £13.90 in their direction.