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Welcome to the world of Hamish Pupkin, Naples Yertz, Hooseby Nurd and Melvin Lugby. These intrepid nurds all have propellors screwed to their heads and are constantly in search of food for their rumbling nurd-guts.

You control one of the four nurd brothers and have to negotiate 50 rooms of obstacles, picking up food on the way. Each room is about four screens large, the screen scrolling to follow the action.

In each room you have to collect four pieces of food - nurds eat anything that doesn't glow - before you can move onto the next room. The rooms come in five levels of ten, the last level only being accessible through a codename gained from the previous four.

You control your nurd in two main ways, walking around and flying using the propellors on his head. There are limitations on the flying - you can propel upwards from solid ground, but as soon as you release the fire-button you drift back down again - your propellor can't be restarted in mid-air. The only way you can reverse a downward drift is by using a 'retroboost' jet, but you are limited to just one of these per room (unless you find a 'blast mat' which gives you another). This adds greatly to the difficulty of dodging the various enemies.

Your nurd initially appears in a 'synthetic water-aided ectoplasmic sludge bubble', but after that he's in constant danger. There are lots of glowing obstacles that, if touched, will cause his head to fly away (under 'auxiliary nurd power supply'!) or he may starve if you don't get him to food in time.

You can have up to four different nurds with three lives each, an extra one being awarded after each completed room. The fifth level is filled with the Ultimate Feasts but it's incredibly tough even before then.

There's a monotonous tune that plays during the game with the occasional nice sound effect. The graphics are mostly plain although the monsters and obstacles are detailed.

The instructions and scenario are funny, but when I started playing I realised it was just a straightforward pattern game. I found the going certainly got tough (with all those rooms to solve, it would take a very long time to finish) but the humour is the best part of the game. The action seems dated and the stop-go feel to the game isn't always very compulsive.

Another one of the slick-yet-dull American arcade imports. Nice graphical touches, but not really containing enough gameplay to keep us tough British gamers interested for very long. Plenty to explore, but suffering from PS: pattern syndrome. Once learnt, you can go through the same old screens in the same old way.

I'm afraid any real love for this game doesn't go much further than the excellent and humourous scenario and instructions supplied ('nipple of death' - I ask you.) I found it became a touch frustrating and boring after a while due to having to repeat the same patterns again and again every play. However, the playing area is certainly very large and there are some good touches - especially the sick bit when Hamish dies!

These are the enemies to avoid:

1. SLINKY SNAKES: move horizontally, reverse when they hit obstacles, lethal to touch.
2. JUMP BAGS: move in unpredictable patterns, lethal to touch.
3. BUG EYES: rotating eyeballs, move vertically, reverse when they hit obstacles, lethal to touch.
4. GLOBS: move similarly to jump bugs, lethal.
5. SPUDNIKS: little wriggling potatoes, follow patterns, lethal.
6. BOUNCING BABY BILLIARD BALLS: appear singly (may not be lethal) or in lethal hordes generated by BLOPPERS and sucked up again by ANTI-BLOPPERS
7. NIPPLE OF DEATH: pulsating spike, lethal.
8. BLINKING BONKERS: regularly appearing and disappearing force walls, lethal.
9. KILLWALLS: non-moving obstructions which are still lethal.

Presentation 81%
A hilarious instruction booklet all about the nurds.

Originality 77%
Some interesting enemies and obstacles with cute character.

Graphics 58%
Simple layouts with some good enemies and death routine.

Hookability 63%
Most of the screens are very samey and won't get you wildly thrilled.

Sound 43%
Simple bangs, bumps, crashes and walking noise.

Lastability 72%
There are 50 multi-screen rooms and they get incredibly difficult to manage.

Value For Money 65%
Disappointingly doesn't live up to the instructions, but it's tough.