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Frosty The Snowman II is the sequel - albeit an unofficial one - to a 1990 cover tape game of the same name (obviously without the II at the end), which was given free with the magazine Your Commodore.

There isn't a story to speak of but, with Father Christmas himself over-seeing proceedings, the apparent task is to race through Lapland against an opponent, avoiding the hazards, ditches, floating roast Turkey dinners and other such Christmas-themed items to the end of a long course.

Each screen appears as you exit from the last - rather than it being a horizontally-scrolling affair - and, although it is for two human players (as there is no computer artificial intelligence programmed into this production), there are enough puzzles and hazards to make it interesting without it being a competition.

From the title screen, you are able to customise many of the options throughout play, switching on or off restart points and the ability to 'push' your opponent, selecting the density of snowfall in the background (turning a clear night into a gentle blizzard), and which of the SID renditions to listen to during play (or you can cycle through them as you race through each screen. There are three tracks to choose from, including 'Walking in the Air', written by Howard Blake for the popular animated film The Snowman, Band Aid's 1984 'Feed the World', and the Pogues 'Fairytale of New York' from 1987, if you need any further help to get you into the spirit of the game. These tunes have been engrained into my psyche since the 1980s, and hearing the old Commodore 64 play them really gave me a feeling of warm nostalgia.

Also included is sampled speech - when one or both of the Snowmen perish. However, although I probably would have appreciated this two decades ago, I don't so much now.

Many new or recent 8-bit games are polished and innovative - almost to the point where they're too good to have been been released during those heady days when Commodore reigned supreme. This certainly could have, and it makes no excuses for being nothing more than it needs to be.

If you have received a C64 recently, or you remember getting one in your childhood (probably a now distant, and I'd hope, fond Christmas memory) then download this uncomplicated run and jump game and spend the start of the year reliving those less-complicated times. It certainly worked for me, and hopefully it will work for you too.

Race your friend and avoid the perils in Lapland in this fun 'jump and run' two-player game.