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This is a platform game with a social conscience. In the Winifreth Dragon Nuclear Reactor in Dorset, core temperature is 2,990 degrees and rising. Meltdown is imminent_ Pretty soon there will be an ecological disaster.

So, you've got to do something about it, such as switching off the valves in each of the game's 63 screens. Easier said than done, of course. This is a platform game, after all.

You get into the first screen after an excellent Bach introduction - J.S. must now be the most popular computer games accompanist.

'Entrance to the Inner Sanctum' is the title of your introduction to disaster. Your man is a plump fellow in a hat, an unlikely-looking candidate for heroism, but very brave nonetheless.

You get unlimited lives, but there is a meter monitoring your radiation level: every time you bump into an obstacle your level goes up, until eventually you succumb to radiation sickness.

The first room, like the others, is full of platforms, steps and surreally nasty creatures. Things whirr and whine, float up and down and there are even strange mutant pussy cats - presumably to catch strange mutant mice.

Key control is quite straightforward - left, right, jump - and success is mainly a matter of timing and strategy. The rooms have a variety of problems to negotiate, and some will prove easier than others. Getting through all 63, however, will be a dangerous and time-consuming business.

Fahrenheit's colours and graphics are well above average and the game is large enough and good enough to keep you at it for a long time. But comparison has to be made with Jet Set Willy, and here Softstone's game loses out in terms of originality and wit. Plus, of course, the complete lack so far of any Pokes for infinite lives!

Control, it must be said, is very difficult. Jumping is particularly difficult to achieve and makes this game very frustrating. Half the time, executing a finely timed jump is more luck than skill.

Sixty-four screens should present a long-term challenge and perhaps Willy fans who cannot wait for him to meet the taxman will buy this difficult game for practice!

Graphics are reasonable and animation is smooth, even though some of the characters are a little difficult to identify. Colour is used fairly well, except on some of the screens where the backgrounds created a dreadful shimmering on my television set. Sound is limited to a good rendition of Toccata.

Fahrenheit 3000 is by no means a sub-standard game, but it's not the best of its kind.

The music on this game is tremendous, it's a pity that it doesn't play all the way through. The game is very much like Jet Set Willy and equally as hard in places. The graphics aren't as attractive though, and the colours don't seem to have been as well thought out.