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Tangram is an Amiga version of an ancient Chinese puzzle game of the same name, one which more traditionally involves wooden blocks and various 'frames'. The idea is to fill various patterns by placing your blocks in the frames (the shapes of which are always the same, though their numbers can change), so that all the frame is completely covered without overlapping. It's a very simple concept, and has been converted for computer use without expanding upon it, except for the rather crap addition of a time limit for each of the 200 screens supplied.

Control is very easy - the pieces are moved around with the mouse, rotated with a mouse button, and placed with the other button - and the Amiga puts its spare processor time to good use with some pleasantly oriental-type tunes. The question is, are these enough to justify buying the Amiga version instead of spending a few quid on a wooden-block original? And, let's be honest, it isn't. The Amiga is incredibly picky about having the block positioning pixel-perfect, but other than that gratuitous irritation it's practically invisible - you don't gain by playing it on a computer at all.

With most board game conversions, you at least get a computer opponent, but that isn't applicable here and it makes buying the game in software form something of a waste of time and money. It's not that Tangram is a bad game - the wooden original has a lot to be said for it - but this computer variant is utterly pointless.

A perfectly competent programming job, but the worst idea for a board-to-computer translation yet. Tangram is great, but get the real thing.