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Dave's not so much into nibbling as gobbling, but in between snack breaks he managed to get in enough playing time to review this game...

I've heard about getting an attack of the nibbles but this is ridiculous. And when your sister complains, "I only have to look at a cream puff and I put on weight," she's got nothing on the serpentine star of this particular game. He's got an appetite like a Tasmanian Devil doing a spot of guest judging on Masterchef. and he doubles his bodyweight with every mouthful. Between levels, though, he goes on a crash diet and sheds every ounce he's put on. Expect to see him replacing Barry Bethel on the next round of Slim Fast ads.

This is a game in which consumption has gone wild but cholesterol is the least of your worries. There's this snake, you see. And he's hungry. Dead hungry. He could eat a horse. Except that a) his jaws can't open quite that wide and snakes are notoriously fussy and can only eat things whole, and b) there aren't any horses around. Nope, all there is to eat are food pellets, hundreds of 'em, lying around all over the place. And since old snake-eyes (snake-everything, in fact) seems to inhabit a series of mazes, you begin to suspect that the previous occupants were a not-very-house-proud Mr. and Mrs. Pacman.

The Pacmans seem to have had Rentokill in, however, because there are no nasty wobbly things around to cause snake-lips any problems. In fact, he's his own worst enemy. Because he grows with every mouthful, and as there's very little room for manoeuvre in the mazes, the main problem is trying to finish his meal without ending up with himself as pudding. He can't stop chomping, y'see, so when he turns a corner and is confronted by his own tail he takes a chunk out of it. Unfortunately, this means he loses a life.

But fortunately, he's a game character so he's got three lives. Unfortunately, the mazes become trickier and trickier to navigate. Fortunately, there are also a few special bonus pills around which help him on his way. Unfortunately, they appear randomly, so he can never be too reliant on them. Fortunately, er, I can't keep this fortunately-unfortunately gag going any longer.

Super Nibbly is a lot better than you might expect. In theory it sounds like just another puzzler-by-numbers, the sort of thing we've all played and romped through before. The humdrum in-game graphics don't help raise your expectations, and the first couple of levels are uninspiringly straightforward. Things don't look promising.

But then the game gets its hooks in. The bonuses become intelligent integrated into the action and the level designs become more devious and more challenging. More to get your teeth into, you might say if you wanted a throwaway eating type gag. The time limits also become tighter. Er, I did mention the time limits, didn't I?

Your progress through the levels is charted on a map accompanied by some great animations of snake-nostrils whizzes from one place to the next.

It's another one of these German games the Electric Boys are planning to import. Hopefully this'll be one of the first they release. It's no classic, and it's as derivative as a Blur LP, but it combines sharp presentation with canny level designs to great effect. If things like Pang and Tilt are to your taste, then this should tickle your taste buds too.

1. A well-designed, fast-moving puzzler.
2. Well-endowed with the one-more-go factor.
3. It's massive. Like really hugely massive.

1. The graphics are (to put it politely) utilitarian.
2. It could do with a few more extra life bonuses.