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Being an ancient Egyptian is never a barrel of laughs - all that lugging great big blocks of stone around for the Pharaoh's new rockery, I don't know. However, if an irate god decides you've committed one blasphemy too many and turns you into a scarab beetle, then it's safe to say you're not having a very good eon. In The Curse Of Ra you are said beetle, and the god in question sets you a series of puzzles to complete before being changed back into a human.

Your objective is to solve 60 riddle-ridden screens. The puzzles take the form of a series of blocks arranged in set patterns. These blocks may either have an Egyptian hieroglyphic on them or be plain stone. To complete a screen you must eliminate all the matching blocks by moving them into a horizontal or a vertical line somewhere on the screen.

You beetle around on the blocks. You can't step onto the background, but you do have a Ra stone at your disposal on which you can travel around the screen. Some other blocks can also be moved around, but the only way of finding out which is a process of trial and error. Screens may also contain transporter, dissolving and one way blocks. Remove all the key blocks and you must still return to the Ra square for a password for that level.

There are two game modes, a logic game and an arcade game: in the latter there's a countdown and you can fall off the edge of the blocks into the void. Ra also includes an editor, enabling you to create your own mindbending puzzles.

Graphically, Curse Of Ra is detailed and attractive. The blocks are clear (an essential requirement, this: if you can't see the blocks, how do you move them?) and they're sufficiently different to make spotting the right one easy. The excellent backdrops seem to be digitised images of authentic Egyptian stonework. Spot effects are kept to a minimum so as not to intrude on gameplay, and all the sound effects are sampled.

Puzzle fans will thoroughly enjoy The Curse Of Ra. Attention to detail is excellent and there are no niggling faults to interrupt gameplay. Long term interest is assured, thanks to the level editor and the password system. If you want a game that demands something more from you than good reflexes, then Ra should easily do the job.