Code Masters
£9.99*

* For the moment Dizzy 4 is only appearing as part of a five game Dizzy compilation. The other titles in the pack are Dizzy, Treasure Island Dizzy, Fantasy World Dizzy and Fast Food. The ultimate cartoon Chrissie pressie?!

Our old friend Dizzy is back with a vengeance - this time he's going to show evil wizard Zaks exactly what he's made of (what? Egg white and yolk? -Ed). Zaks has cast one of his deadly spells, and it's Dizzy who has to put things right.

Each of Dizzy's pals has had a different spell cast over them: Dylan has been tangled up in a bush, Dora turned into a frog, Dozy has been sent to sleep (nothing new there), Denzil frozen solid, Daisy super enlarged and Grand Dizzy is trapped on the other side of Zak's magic mirror. Dizzy's task is to break the six spells and destroy the wizard forever.

The fun and frolics take place in a strange fairy tale world inhabited by some very peculiar characters. There's Prince Charming with his dashing looks and golden crown, good witch Glenda stirring her magic cauldron and the Queen Of Hearts, 'Off with her head!'. All this in the great Dizzy graphic style.

This game is truly enchanting! Every Dizzy game has been loads of fun to play and Magicland carries on the tradition. The puzzles will have you flummoxed from the word go, but that's half the fun of playing a Dizzy adventure. If you slick at it you'll eventually solve one, which will lead you on to the next. Visually Magicland is similar to the other four games: colourful animated sprites are everywhere and the scenery is packed full at detail. Dizzy himself leaps and bounds around every screen in his usual comical way, making the game ooze with addictivity. The tunes and sound effects are also really good, and I'm sure one in-game tune is a remix of Kylie's 'I should be so lucky'!

This, the fourth Dizzy game, has got to be one of the best so far. An essential purchase for every Spectrum owner. It's magic!

Time to catch up with our 2 favourite barg hunters, JON PILLAR and RICH PELLEY, as we fix on our helmets and drop down deep...

BARGAIN BASEMENT

CodeMasters
£2.99
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

Remember Dizzy? Remember Treasure Island Dizzy? Remember Fantasy World Dizzy? Well, you should. And now, here'd the 4th Dizzy game in the series (not counting Fast Food and Kwik Snax of course which were arcade games and so completely different) - Magicland Dizzy, which is simply more of the same, but what the heck, eh?

Evil Wizard Zaks is back, and has turned the Yolkfolk, Daisy, Dora, Dylan, Denzil and Grand Dizzy into strange creatures and has teleported them to Magicland - a bit of a downer really because you, as Dizzy, have to go and get them back. Once again the game consists of you walking and jumping through a platform-and-ladders flip-screen maze, solving puzzles to progress further this time with the added task of locating the individual Yolkfolk (who have been turned into everything from bushes to a huge block of ice) and working out how to turn them back to normal. Predictably, this is no mean feat because if you're not careful, you'll impale yourself on a nearby bat, or accidentally fall down a well, or drown, or jump into a monster, or bump into a killer rat, or do something equally silly if you don't time it quite right on the old jump button.

Fortunately, you do have three lives to begin with, and your energy can be replenished by collecting diamonds on the way. Oh. I think you also need to collect enough diamonds to proceed further into the game, but don't quote me on that.

The puzzles aren't overly complicated, being a case of using the appropriate object at the appropriate time - the tricky part is actually to have found and be carrying the correct object at the right time. As in Fant. World Diz, you can hold three objects at once - but this does mean you get an annoying menu system every time you want to do something and often spend hours piddling about with it trying to get it to do what you want. But that's a minor point, as the game really is a bit of a spanker.

Once again the graphics are cute city, and the overall gameplay is practically the same, although it's got a bit of a different 'feel' to it 'cos I think this one was written by a different bloke, although don't quote me on that one either. It's quite addictive too as each go you usually meet your fate realising what you should have done instead to avoid dying, so you'll jump at the chance for another go. You can of course cheat and call the 0898 Dizzy helpline (33p per minute off peak, 44p per minute at all other times), although I think I mis-dialed, because when Lusty Linda picked up the phone and invited to reveal all, I'm sure she wasn't talking about how to complete a computer game.

But anyway, if you're a Dizzy fan then you'll no doubt have bought this one already, but it you're not then go on - buy it anyway - it's a corker.