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In the run up to Christmas 1993, several thousand UK-based Commodore 64 fans were awaiting probably the last big releases for the aged platform: Alien 3, by Acclaim Entertainment and Virgin Games, Lemmings from Psygnosis and Mayhem In Monsterland (MiM) by Apex Computer Productions. With the mysterious disappearance of Batman Returns earlier that year, the outlook for new entertainment software on Commodore's famous 8-bit was looking rather bleak, and if this was to be the last Christmas of new games, then it would at least be one to savour. MiM did not have had the big licence appeal of the other two, but it had the best breeding, being crafted by Steve and John Rowlands (Apex Computer Productions), the men behind Creatures I and II, two titles that were held in very high regard amongst press and players alike.

Fifteen years on, MiM has finally been re-released through Psytronik Software; I should, in fact, state that it's been re-released and fixed - as the original game was shipped with a nasty bug that would, in certain circumstances, see you losing ten lives or more. The loader has been reworked too, and there is also a new loading screen for the cassette version, as well as Mayhem Megamix 1 and 2 on the reverse side of the disk. These are music demos released in 1994 on the Commodore Format cover tapes - basically a collection of tunes from all games created by John and Steve.

The idea behind the game is for Mayhem (our cute yellow and pink prehistoric hero) to return Monsterland to a happy place. Its current unhappy state began when an apprentice magician called Theo Saurus meddled with magic beyond his comprehension; this made the surrounding locations dull and dreary places, lacking colour and joy. This affected its inhabitants, who dawdled around grimly and aimlessly, and poor Theo had to go into hiding. By chance, Theo met a rather optimistic Dinosaur called Mayhem, who promised to help him to return the world back to a vibrant and colourful state, by collecting the necessary amount of magic dust for Theo to reverse his meddling. Once returned to normal, Mayhem has the chance to collect various power-ups to aid his progression, such as extra lives or continues, or the lightning charger, that allows our hero to speed around each level with blistering pace - and also dispatch many of the roamers within.

Each level must therefore be completed twice with different objectives as, when it's reverted to its happy state, a set number of magic stars must also be collected - and when the quota is reached, it's then a simple case of finding the finishing line.

The first thing that you will notice about MiM is that it is probably one of the best looking games ever to grace the C64. All sprites are clean and crisp, perfectly defined and well animated. Even the chunky roamers look good. The back-drops are brilliant, and the push scroller is clean and smooth. There is never too much happening on screen for there to be any sprite flicker, nor is there too little to appear empty. This includes when you have the lightning power up, which matches the pace of Sega's Sonic The Hedgehog; screen after screen passes in seconds until Mayhem hits a wall, or falls. More impressive is the dual-layer scrolls at full pelt - MiM is nothing short of a supreme technical achievement.

So the game looks nice, but how does it play? Well, it's not just a case of cosmetics over all else. The controls are extremely responsive and well refined, the difficulty curve is weighted about right and there's nothing in it that is simply too difficult to cause frustration. As I purchased the game first time around, and I never did manage to get past level four, I feel confident in doing so now the lives bug has been fixed. I won't go as far to ;ay that it's the perfect game, but as a platformer, it's as close as the C64 can manage without adding more processing grunt or a more powerful graphics chip. Buy it now! It really is one of the most worth while purchases any C64 fan can make.

A superbly playable, pacey and cute platform game.

Product: Mayhem In Monsterland 15th Anniversary Edition
Price: £8.99 (budget edition) £12.99 (deluxe edition)
Developer: Apex Computer Productions
Publisher: Psytronik Software (www.psytronik.com)
Machine: Commodore 64/128