Another Mastertronic 'flippy flippy' game, with the Spectrum and Amstrad versions on the same tape, is Reveal (24%). The object of the game is to memorise an onscreen isometric pattern. Then, when the screen is plunged into darkness, you have to manoeuvre your object, lighting up the blocks again (sounds like fun, doesn't it?) Once they are all fully lit you can move onto the next screen and repeat the process. This soon gets extremely tedious, especially when aliens decide to darken the blocks on the opposite side of the screen again (fume!). I doubt whether anyone would find Reveal worth even £1.99.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Another trip to Lowprice Lane with the king of the skinflints, Marcus Berkmann!

Mastertronic
£1.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

More puzzles here, this time of the 3D isometric variety. Reveal is one of those games that reminds you of all sorts of other titles - Kirel, Bobby Bearing, Sophistry, even Bounty Bob Strikes Back in some ways - but is still different Enough to keep you interested.

The idea's simple as can be. Each level is a grid of squares, not unlike a chessboard, but instead of being flat, each one is full of peaks and troughs like a Bobby Bearing landscape. This means that not all squares are immediately accessible, and you may have to go all over the place to get to some of the trickier ones.

Before you start, you get a swift glimpse of all the squares lit up. Then all goes dark, and your job is to reveal all the squares by landing on them, and then doing a serious runner before your time runs out. Naturally there are nasties fizzing around after you, and their level of nastiness depends on the level you're on - some, for instance, black out squares you have been on, making it very hard to finish the level. In short this is perfect budget material - nothing that's likely to stretch you too far, but good cheapie fun.