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You might have thought that he had a retired to a large starched hanky in West Virginia, but the snot-blob's returned in the platform-adventurey sequel to Reckless Rufus. The green mucus-like one has managed to escape from the dangerous planet he was trapped on, and has been training as a wizard for the past few months. Now he's on another strange land where witches abound and magic mushrooms grow.

Ye olde plot goes something like this: a brace of witches yearn for more power and have imprisoned everyone on the planet Atwicky in small uncomfortable cages. Rufus has managed to squeeze through the bars of his and is now on a quest to free everyone else from their shackles.

Thankfully for Rufus the witches are a scatty-minded pair and have left an awful lot of their precious spells just lying around waiting to be collected by passing heroes. Also scattered about are wooden chests housing gold coins and magic mushrooms which Rufus can consume to boost his energy level.

The eight levels are all fairly huge and are designed similarly to the ones in Dizzy games. Luckily, though, you scroll through these extensive playfields of stone platforms - none of that flipping from one screen to the next here. Nasties hang around in dead awkward places waiting to drain your energy. Your spells will destroy them but only temporarily; stay in one place too long and you're heading for the great coven in the sky.

There are six different spells to collect in the underground chambers, the most important being a key spell that unlocks the cages that contain Rufus' best buddies. All the spells have different effects and most can be used as weapons. The only spell that can't is the air spell, which you use when Rufus has to traverse the lakes of Atwicky.

The weapon spells have different ranges as well as varying hit points. The weakest weapon is the key, which makes perfect sense as it really wasn't designed to injure or maim (although after my self defence classes I know that anything can be be a weapon if used correctly). The strongest, with five hit points but only a short range, is the flame, perfect for frying the odd dragon plant. The various enemies all have different energy values as well. For example, a blue daemon may take three spears to destroy, while a witch takes five or six shots to obliterate.

The graphics are admittedly a tad drab; everything seems to be either lurid green or a dingy brown. But at least they're clear and the collision detection is pretty good - there's no standing in mid-air by the side of a platform. The sound effects are basic, but at least there's no annoying music.

The difficulty levels are set about right for this style of game. If you've completed a level once, it's not too tough to repeat your success - a pretty good job as there are no restart points and no level codes. The only way to give yourself another chance is to spend a bit of money buying some energy if it's running a bit low. Either that or find a stash of magic mushrooms that were being saved for a damp day.

For a company known mainly for their licences, Alternative seem to be having much more success in creating good games based on their own characters these days. Let's hope that they learn that good coding is ten times more important than signing on the dotted line for a big name.

1. I hate to admit it, but it is rather cute.
2. Large levels and eight of them too.
3. Smart stompin' sounds.
4. Loads of weapons.

1. Maybe a little too easy to complete.
2. Dingy graphics.