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To get anywhere with this brilliant new game, you'll have to do a lot of thinking, so to get you in the mood, here's a teasing little riddle. This month has seen the launch of four major Spectrum arcade-adventures: Psytraxx, Strangeloop, Avalon and Pyjamarama. The first three have over 200 locations (Psytrata has 1,000), Pyjamarama has around 30. So how can we justify making this tiny pipsqueak of a program game-of-the-month?

Well, it's not just the graphics, although these are outstanding: very large, very colourful, very clear, lots of variety. It's not just the fact that the game is the most playable of the four, requiring just three controls - left, right and jump.

The real point about Pyjamarama is that it's the first arcade adventure which is a real adventure. Let me explain. This year's rush of arcade-adventures was started when Ultimate brought out Atic Atac last Christmas. That game, and those which followed, were adventures in the sense that different locations had to be explored. But the other aspect of adventure games - using objects to solve problems - was barely touched on.

This game changes all that. OK, there are only about 30 locations, but each contains a different object and each object presents a teasing puzzle which you, the player, must solve.

What is more, the puzzles are all inter-related. Example: a bucket in room A, might have to be filled with water in room B, and taken to room C where it renders harmless the inhabitant man-eating plants. This might allow you to pick up a fuel can in room C which (if you can find some fuel in room D) just might allow you to power a rocket stashed away in room E and reach the moon. So it goes on...

The story is that Wally Week, the lovable idiot first seen in Automania, is now having a nightmare and wants to wake himself up. So he wanders around his house and elsewhere dodging strange aliens and trying to figure out a way of setting off his alarm clock. The instructions give you no clue on how to go about this; it's all down to brain power.

The objects lying around (they're all larger than life since it's a dream) include a door-handle, radio, towel, library book, plant pot, conveyor belt controller, hammer, fire extinguisher, joystick, pound coin, power pack, crystal orb, various keys, driving licence and cooking bowl.

Mikrogen assure me that hardly any are red herrings. They each have a role to play in helping Wally to wake up.

A major point is that Wally can carry only two objects at a time. This apparent limitation in fact gives the game enormous added interest because of the tactical problems it raises. You can't just go round collecting everything. You must try to form a plan and then pick up the exact combination of objects needed to try it out.

When you get stuck, you can take time off to enjoy the game's humour. Ghostly hands appear from the floor and disappear.

If Wally miss-times his jump to a stairway, he may end up sliding down the bannisters. Occasionally, when he goes to exit a door, a huge boxing glove appears and knocks him to the ground!

Another enjoyable thing is the lift which, once sussed, allows you into a new series of rooms.

These features coupled with the game's superb graphics and easy playability mean that most people will fall in love with it straightaway. Playing it will give hours of teasing frustration, interrupted just often enough by exhilarating breakthroughs which open up new sections of the game.

Of course the big question is: how long will interest last? Will the game be solved in a few days and then be left idle on the shelf? Or will it prove impossible and be given up in frustration?

Our feeling is that Mikrogen have pitched the game at just the right level. It's solvable, but it'll take ages. For example, after a weekend's entertaining play, I still have no clue what to do with some 75 per cent of the objects (I'm mad keen to find out!)

However, even when it is solved the game won't lose all interest, because following a suggestion by PCG, Mikrogen have incorporated a unique feature. The program actually counts the number of steps that Wally takes, so that even once you've completed the game, you can always try again, this time aiming to do it more efficiently.

And for those who haven't completed it, there's a percentage rating which will reveal what proportion of the puzzles you've solved.

I've no doubt that Pyiatriarama's going to be a massive hit, and perhaps the first of a new genre of computer games. It's certainly a hundred times better than its predecessor, Automania, and, if Mikrogen's hint-dropping department is to be believed, the program's central character may well be used again in future games in an attempt to create a sort of Wally cult.

Sticking to the present day, one thing at least is clear. After a year's searching, PCG has at last found its Wally of the month.

The editor practically had to drag me away from the game to write this and none too soon either since I was developing nervous twitches.

Recurrent nightmares are the theme of the game and I'm sure trying to solve it wil give anybody a few of those. Despite being fiendishly difficult to complete, the game is still very playable for the newcomer, with delightfully designed rooms to explore with the cuter-than-ever Wally.

Plucked turkeys, groping hands and various other nasties plague your way in different rooms and there's no help at hand except the use of your own brain (this could be difficult for some of us).

Anyway, I thought it was a great new idea and certainly good for the old grey matter, so get those keyboard fingers in practice and those joysticks in gear 'cos this one's a goody!

"Sure looks pretty," thought I, on catching sight of this little number. "But it is going to keep me playing?"

Four hours later, I had to admit defeat, but I shall be back for more. What I enjoyed most about this game was the fact that you did have to use a bit of grey matter while you played. Even when you find yourself stuck over a seemingly insoluble problem, the graphics succeed in giving the game enough atmosphere to hold your interest.

My only worry about Pyjamarama would be that, once I'd completed it I might not want to play it again - but I don't expect to face that problem for some time yet.