Archibald's Adventures

Let's hear it for the kids. If we believe the image the tabloids like to propagate, you can't walk a couple of feet on the street without being accosted by some hooded youth, stripped of all your worldly belongings, and happy slapped to death.

But things are often nowhere near as bad as the keyboard warriors like to make out, and Archibald's Adventures's young strapping lead is the perfect example of a boy come good, rushing to the aid of a nutty old professor trapped by his own creations.

Archibald's quest begins in Professor Kumpfus's laboratory. Using his trusty skateboard, your goal is to guide Archie through an assortment of levels tracking down the professor's experiments.

This isn't a straight platformer, however, and though speed plays a major part, it's learning when and when not to use that pace that forms the backbone to play.

Control is very simple: moving forwards or back is handled using arrows on the left of the screen. You gain speed the longer you move in one direction, automatically skating up levels as long as they're only one quadrant high.

You can leap across sheer drops and even fall a small distance without injury. You also have an added tool in your arsenal fairly early on: a bubble you can inflate and send skywards to trigger buttons and levers out of your reach.

This canny addition is the perfect example of the game's steady learning curve. Teleporters, laser beams, and mutant animals all add to the library, and in each case the game is there to give you the down-low before you end up being taken down yourself.

The trick is to manage all of these elements so Archibald gets from point A to point B in one piece. Most of the levels - of which there are over a hundred - are simply a case of working out how Archibald's skills can be applied to his surroundings.

If there's a gap in the path, is there enough of a run-up for our hero to board across? If the platforms above are too high, is there a switch you can activate to give you a step up?

If this sounds a little basic, don't be fooled. Further challenges find their way into play as you move forward, to the extent that getting to your goal becomes like cracking a code.

Figuring out the right combination of moves and hitting the right switches is challenging the further into the game you get.

Not that things come to a halt if play gets the better of you. While you do have to complete every level in a chapter (of which there are seven, plus a final face-off) to move forward, chapters are unlocked en masse rather than level by level.

This allows you to dot around and take on the levels you feel comfortable with before tackling those you don't.

But no one likes to succeed without being tested. Archibald's Adventures offers a sizable challenge with a side of merriment. It's the kind of quality caper that's likely to keep you coming back for months - a truly compelling adventure.