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Join Professor Potts in the epic race against time to save the future from the past.

There you were, outside your laboratory, minding your own business as you made a few minor alterations to your Time Machine when, suddenly and out of the blue, you were attacked by a bunch of mindless terrorists. An explosive device detonated beside your beloved machine, the vital accelerator crystal was destroyed and you found yourself thrown into a vicious time warp, leaving you stranded 10 million years in the past with only a souped-up torch for inspiration.

Quite a pickle indeed. In this superb four dimensional blast from Activision, you play the role of scatty-brained Professor Potts, an obsessive time traveller and typical eccentric. Your task is to single-handedly drag your way back through the ages and prevent the terrorist attack before it even happened but be warned, it's no easy task.

In each of the time zones you pass through, be it prehistoric, medieval or recent, you need to perform a number of tasks by interfering with evolution to create the next zone you must visit. Use your skill to determine what needs doing; it might be as simple as heating or cooling the planet to allow life to develop, although your duties get harder as you go on. Mess up and you could find life as we know it disappearing without trace. Quite a responsibility.

Many of your actions in the time zones will affect what you find on the next so, as they say, you can only reap in the future what you have planted in the past. Very philosophical.

Along the way, you must keep your eyes open for clues at all times and use whatever you can lay your hands on to help your quest. Your only weapon is a designer torch, which emits a limited burst of electrical power. Use this to stun any foul looking creatures and also to dislodge objects which may come in useful. Don't overuse it though, as it may take some time to recharge.

Once you've completed your tasks, you can use a limited number of reusable travel pods to skip backwards and forwards, taking care to look after your ancestors and environment to see your way back to the day of the dreaded terrorist attack.

Although there may be some lack of colour in the early stages of the game, that is more than compensated for by the epic scale of the gameplay and the addictive puzzles to be found throughout.

Time Machine is an excellent example of role-playing arcade adventure and is guaranteed to keep you glued to your screens for hours on end as you fight for the future in the epic confines of the past.