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It's taken US Gold ages to get this out on the street - so long that it's been on the hacking circuit for nearly two years. You'd have a bit of a search if you tried to find this in an arcade, as Crystal Castles has now reached the prime old age of four.

It looks very much like Pacman played on a Marble Madness course. It also plays quite similarly to Pacman since you have the same objective. There are eighteen levels and each level has four screens.

You play Bentley Bear, who has this terrific urge to collect gems up from the castle floor. This foolish whim of Bentley's is very dangerous, as there are trees, marbles, bees, and caterpillars, among others, who are very eager to terminate the life of Bentley. That's about the bear bones of it anyway. [Groan! - Ed]

Staying very much in the Pacman mode, there is also a way of becoming invincible. Bump into the hat, and there you have it "Immortality 'a la Pac-man!'". As you probably realise, this only lasts for a number of seconds. However, this still renders you powerless against all other forms of life, other than the witch. (Which is rarely found.) A lesser skill is your ability to jump, which helps you no end on your quest for gems.

If you pause for too long on a sheet the computer sends down a vicious swarm of bees, who will chase you around the screen for a few seconds. To deter these from coming down you can collect a honey pot, which will also give you a thousand point in the process, whilst the only nasty which you can kill are the caterpillars, but you must run into them while they are eating a gem. On selected screens, there are elevators, so that you can reach the otherwise inaccessible heights.

Crystal Castles has just the bare essentials [That's the last time - Ed] of a normal game, so what game it such a cult following in the arcades? On the original it had a trackball, which worked extremely effectively and quickly. Another unique feature of the coin-op were the warps that were hidden on each screen. When you activated a warp you flew forward a few levels and were given a hefty bonus. (Hint: try where Bentley is hardly visible!) I'm pleased to announce that US Gold seem to have managed to fit in all of these.

A big problem they do seem to have encountered is the control method. As I said, Crystal Castles had a trackball. Play using the joystick, is fidgety and leads to premature loss of lives.

As a conversion this is very precise and accurate, but inevitably it looks dated. Had this been in the shops two years ago US Gold would have had a massive hit on their hands, but two years on... well, you can't teach an old dog, er, bear new tricks!