Mined-Out

The Good
It loads quickly, and the variable skill levels and action replay features are nice in theory.

The Bad
There's no skill to it. Although you know how many mines are adjacent to your current position, you have no hope of making a reasonable prediction as to which to avoid. If the game told you of mines in 8 directions, this information would be of use (even without allowing for diagonal movement), as a mine diagonally above your position would be to your side after an upward more, for example. As it stands the information from one move is useless after you've made that move. Even at the lowest difficulty level, getting across is almost impossible.

The Bottom Line
A few great games were written in 16K on the Spectrum - early Ultimate titles such as Jetpac and Cookie, the exciting Pinball Wizard and the indescribably thrilling 3D Deathchase for example. Unfortunately this title, though modestly well-presented, is lacking in any gameplay, fairness or logic, and isn't really worth hunting out.

The Good
Okay, it's not the most complicated game of the century, or even the decade, but it's genuine fun. Essentially you want to navigate a maze of mines – often whilst being chased - except that you don't know where they are, and one wrong move results in miffing it.
Each move results in a figure being displayed - 1 to 3 - which tells you how many mines are around you, but not in what direction. Through purposeful moves, however, you can use this vague number to logically work out exactly where the trip-hazards are. It essentially is a highly primitive form of Minesweeper – one which uses essentially the same mechanic, just in a more interesting form.
You get points for speed, and for rescuing “damsels” before reaching the exit - so it’s a fairly straightforward scoring system and one that isn’t complicated in the slightest.

The Bad
Having pursuers in the later levels definitely ramps up the excitement, but due to a fairly basic mine-laying algorithm (both initial, and within boards) it can lead to results which require a good deal of luck to overcome (I.e. a peninsula of safe squares). This can be frustrating, but it’s the nature of the game. Luckily there are “saves” after each level so if you hit a wall and perish on the final level you don’t need to start back at round 1, but merely the level before. However, if you are going for a high score expect lady luck to smite you down.

Also, you do unfortunately spend most of the time looking at one corner of the screen, which isn't brilliant. A better mine-number representation system might have been an improvement, but it can't be helped and it's only a minor issue that doesn’t detract massively from the experience.

The Bottom Line
It's a basic premise, but if your fingers are quick and your mind sharp(ish) then this is a minesweeping game that will float your boat!