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A 53-screen extravaganza, cast in the Jet Set Willy mould and featuring our hero, the indomitable Roland. Like many good arcade games, the instructions and controls are simple: collect the crystals, avoid the things that wobble and move, and don't trip over in the streams.

The plot is a little more involved, since the evil Maestro has pinched our hero's energy crystals and scattered them through various time zones -starting with a dalliance in Norse times. Which reminds me of a very old joke, in fact it was discovered in the frozen pocket of a Viking recently dug out of a peat bog in Northern Norway. Archaeologists claim that he died of hysterical laughter. Judge for yourself: There was this rampaging Viking about to set off to England on another trip of rape, pillage and general ravage. As he strolled out the door of the roughly hewn Norse cabin, his wife called out after him:

"Hengis, dear - could you resist the temptation to bring back any more ravaged wenches, treasure chests and other clutter? What we badly need is a new sink."

As luck would have it, Hengis was a trifle short sighted, and as he rampaged with his chums through the East Anglian countryside, he stumbled across a building site and spotting what he fondly imagined was a rather neat sink with a carrying handle attached, he gathered it up to take back.

Upon returning to his roughly hewn Nordic abode, his wife was waiting to receive her present when she spotted what he was carrying and cried out in despair at yet more unwanted junk from the Brits. She explained carefully that what he had collected was not in fact a sink, but a brick layer's hod.

"Ah well, m'dear", he cackled, "you know what they say.... a hod's as good as a sink to a blind Norse."

Ahem, on with the plot. Having collected the crystals from this particular era by trekking through a series of screens, Roland returns to his time machine (a telephone box, now fancy that!) and by selecting a new time zone, you can propel him to Ancient Egypt, Roman times, Medieval times, the Industrial Revolution, Modern Times (including a scene down at the DHSS) and thence to future times, culminating with a forboding series of post nuclear tableaux.

The action is highly polished, with smooth sprite movements, and no bugs that we have found yet. Some of the crystals can only be reached by using hidden escalators and stairways, and it's not always obvious if a shimmering vertical column is an escalator that will carry you aloft, or something unpleasant that will zap you. As with all good explorations, half the fun is finding out which snake bites are poisonous!

Positioning to make jumps can be crucial to the nearest pixel, so a little practice will be required to tune the reflexes and judgement. You can enter the game at any one of the 10 time zones You must visit the computer shop, and don't forget to climb up the mast of Njorl's Dragonboat. You won't find the sink, but it's well worth the trip. The shots of some of the many screens tell the tale better than words.

And you simply cannot review a Gem game without a special mention for the sound track. Roland In Time opens to the strains of something very reminiscent of a well known TV series, and then proceeds through the game with 'I love to go a-wandering' rattling the senses. I am pleased to say that this feature can be toggled on and off by pressing the ENTER key.