Meet Jack, the music miner

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Jet Boot Jack is an excellent Manic Miner version for the BBC Micro. The aim is to amass the greatest music collection in the world which you do by picking up all the notes lying about on each screen.

The scenario is a set of caverns - what else? - fitted out with a variety of lifts to shuttle you about.

You must also keep your jet-boots topped up with jet-boot propellant by collecting fuel pods that occasionally appear.

There are 10 screens-getting more difficult geographically and opposition-wise. Sliding platforms and conveyor belts provide the tricky landscapes and various hopping nasties, extending Stators and Flappers wreak havoc with poor old Jack.

He can sometimes kill the nasties by jumping up and down above them - but this doesn't always work.

Graphics in this English Software game arc very detailed, even down to Jack's headphones and the frameworks of the various nasties. The sound effects are quite good too. The keys take a bit of getting used to - I kept trying to activate the lifts instead of ducking under bits of low-hanging rock. Luckily there's a pause control to give you time to mop your brow if things start to hot up.

Six skill levels are allowed, including a gremlin-free practice mode. On higher levels, more nasties will appear, fuel gets scarcer and the scoring goes up.

To sum up, though having to look out for low ceilings, departing lifts and extending gremlins took some getting used to. I quite liked it after a day or two.

It's probably a bit complex for very young children but the average micro user could have quite a bit of fun.

Philip Tudor