Have you ever wanted to make a fortune by turning lead into gold? In Magic Meanies, you control a wizard collecting gold to transmute.

You guide him around the screen collecting all the lead while avoiding the magic meanies who follow his path. He is armed only with five crystal balls but there are also four apples which you can use to block or squash your pursuers. With each new screen an extra meanie of a different type is added.

There is an option of nine speeds, from the pedestrian to the impossible. You can also silence the rendition of the Can-Can which, for no apparent reason, accompanies the action.

The graphics are over-small and the pin man appears to be flat on his face when you move up or down. An annoying feature is the method of entering names into the high score table. You must laboriously use left and right to move through the alphabet to select each letter.

Movement keys are well chosen and there is a Kempston joystick option.

Magic Meanies is an interesting game let down by poor graphics.

S.E.