By day, Sinbad Jnr is a humble apprentice gardener, whose only royal connection is the plants he tends in the palace garden. By night, he's the secret love of the beautiful princess Laila.
But alas, Laila's father (the Caliph) requires a large quantity of green stuff (and I don't mean leaves) to convince him that Junior is the right man to marry his precious daughter. Apprentice gardeners do not earn much, even those who tend the palace greenery.

Meanwhile, in a castle far away, the evil Vizier is plotting his evil plans. One day he intends to rule the kingdom, but first, he wants to marry the princess, and secondly, push the king off some tower in a few years time.
The Vizier has never attended any charm school, so in place of the usual romantic proposal he arranges for a demon to sweep the princess off her feet, and cast a spell over the kingdom so that no-one notices. Cunning eh?

Don't desert me
The demon is caught in the act, though, by the ever vigilant Junior who climbs the walls in search of his lost love. But as he gets there, the demon lifts off with the bride-to-be and leaves Sinbad to face the music with the palace guard who, in a fit of understanding unique to his profession, throws him into the dungeons and leave him to rot.

Here's where you come in. All you've got to do is get out of the dungeon, fight any creature that crosses your path, destroy the evil Vizier and rescue your true love. Simple, non? So strike a heroic pose, let the light glint off your teeth, brandish your sword as though you know what you're doing and get on with it.

Getting out of the dungeon is not as simple as it may seem. There are puzzles to solve, treasure chests to open, currency to collect and nasty enemies to destroy with your mighty sword. Just because you're called Junior doesn't mean you can't hack-and-slash along with the best of them. There is also help at hand in the form of flashing light blubs and friendly citizens who haven't fallen under the spell of the evil Vizier.

The gameplay is an easy mix of platform and puzzle and like most games of this genre, try and pick up anything that isn't nailed down. The puzzles are straightforward if you employ a little lateral thinking, but to progress through the game you'll have to solve them all.

When one needs to be solved, a flashing light blub appears above your head to offer you a clue. Some of the clues are obvious, but as you can't get killed while you read them, waste a little time in the pursuit of knowledge.

Points are found in the form of local currency. In the dungeon these are gems, on other levels they are skulls, fish skeletons and other weird things. Collect as much currency as you can, it may be required for some puzzles.

The current total, along with other items picked up, are shown on the inventory screen, which is accessed by pressing the space-bar. Secret passages are dotted around the levels, which lead to secret rooms filled with treasure.

Strange customs
There are nine levels to complete, but only four of them have end-of-level guardians to kill before you can progress. When you complete a level, because you are hopping over to another country, you will have to face the dreaded customs officer. Do not worry though, because there's no risk of a quick strip search. His job is simply to convert your currency into points, and to lighten your load and take anything off you that you don't need any more.

sheep might fly...
The music and sound effects are very catchy. When you hack bits off the scenery, the action is accompanied by a realistic sound effect. The best is on the flying carpet levels, where sheep are either being fired at you or they're entered for the high jump in the next Olympics. The 'startled sheep' bleat should be patented..

Much of the gameplay seems familiar, but as a mixture of different ideas and style this works really well. There is plenty of atmosphere, built up by the music and effects, which make the game pretty addictive.

But at the end of the day, it's a pretty futile quest. I mean, will the beautiful princess really want to marry an ex-prisoner, even if he did save here life?

You've guessed it already, haven't you? You've looked at the screenshots and you know that somewhere in the first paragraph you're going to find the words 'capers', 'cute' and 'platform', and not necessarily in that order. But, there, I've gone and got them out of the way now and you can stop grimacing because, whatever the style, you can never have too many good games and Arabian Nights is a darn good one.

The plot (which we're not going to go into here for space reasons) is a cute story, but not half as cute as the game itself, which has you, as Sinbad, racing around slashing baddies, jumping on treasure chests and solving all manner of puzzles.

The levels themselves are satisfyingly varied and almost unbearably sweet; they're also quite difficult and large enough to keep you occupied for a month's worth of rainy afternoons, even without the secret rooms that are dotted around throughout the game.

What's more, Arabian Nights is a real treat to play. So what if, in certain places, dying is easier than chewing a fruit pastille? It's no problem starting again. And, because Sinbad Jr is so fast, you soon find yourself at the point where death caught up with you last time. In fact, you do have to be a bit careful when racing along, as Sinbad Jr virtually flies at points and it's hard to make him stop.
More than once I raced past a sign pointing to 'acid baths' and the like, tried to stop but still went hurtling out-of-control to a sudden rendezvous with some serious and disfiguring injuries.

All the levels have their tricky bits to negotiate, and part of the difficulty lies in solving the puzzles. At the beginning of each level there's a cryptic clue that gives you some help and throughout the level little lightbulbs flash up above your head.
Press the space bar and you'll get a little message to help, but you're still going to have to expend some effort - the puzzle element in this game isn't just a token effort.

The variety of levels means that there're loads of different bits to Arabian Nights - travelling through the game you pass through damp, dark prisons stalked by mean sentries with scimitars and baggy trousers, intent on splitting you in half. Then there are the spooky woods with puzzles to solve, grannies to visit, bears to comfort and interactive flowers.
There are levels that are traversed by magic carpet and spent bursting air balloons, shooting somersaulting sheep and avoiding cannonballs that are pelted at you from a floating ship (well, it looked like it was floating to me). And there's a snowy level too, in which Sinbard Jr skids through the caves, often to an early death.

But my favourite is the underwater level which is a bit like Ecco The Dolphin without all the bother of going up for air. Sinbad floats around collecting skulls, avoiding swinging spiky balls and jellyfish and trying not to swim too near electric eels.
Mind you, it is sorely tempting to steer Sinbad straight into a leccy eel just to see him go into spasms and turn, briefly, into a skeleton. It might sound cruel, but you have got to have some kind of release from the syrupy sweetness, after all.

Arabian Nights is an incredibly easy game to pick up, but the difficulty level is set just right. You won't finish this game without dying a hundred times first, and some of those deaths will be so frustrating. But perseverance brings its own reward, as they say in Sunday School, and you'll learn how to make your minecart jump at just the right point, how to time those jumps perfectly, where the spikes are and just exactly how little you need to make Jr skid in the snowy levels.

Another good thing is the fact that because of the puzzles, Arabian Nights is more than just another platform game. It's also this added element that makes the game appear a lot bigger than it might do at first, as solving puzzles sometimes gives you access to other parts of the screen. Interacting with other characters also gives you something else to do, such as collecting jewels or currency or finding assorted items such as diving boots, other than just avoiding and/or shooting things. It's grand.

Arabian Nights has a lot of the same elements as a quite a few up-and-coming games. There's Yo! Joe! which also sees a young hero brandishing a sword and leaping through dungeons and forests; then there's Beavers, another platform romp, which has a similar snowbound level and skidding action.

Still, Arabian Nights is the first of the batch and it could be the best - we'll have to see how the competition shapes up. We've been asked not to disclose the ending, but I'll just say that Sinbad Jr does 'get his way' with lovely Laila eventually. Phwoar... ahem.

Did your parents ever try to send you to sleep at night by telling you stories of a brave prince beating overwhelming odds to rescue a princess? Were they full of demons and nasty monsters? Yes? I know, I needed years of therapy afterwards too. That aside, if you want to relive those tales of derring-do, Krisalis are releasing the game for you.

Arabian Nights tells the story of Sinbad Jnr., Chief Gardener's Assistant Helper (2nd Class), to the Caliph of some small eastern country. He is secretly in love with the Caliph's daughter, Princess Leila (isn't the hero always?).

Unfortunately, he just doesn't have the necessary amount of OOO's at the end of his bank statement to make a serious play for her hand. To cap it all, the evil Vizier has designs on Leila too, and he has the power to get her. Being a generally nasty sort of bloke the Vizier can't make Leila an offer directly, so he summons a demon from one of the more unpleasant levels of Hell to steal her away. Sinbad is in the garden when the demon appears and attacks Leila; sensing trouble (boy, this kid is quick!) he starts to scale the palace walls to reach Leila's balcony.

Just as he gets there the demon takes off so Sinbad grabs its foot, but his grip isn't very good and he falls to the ground below. When he wakes up Sinbad finds himself in the palace dungeon accused of kidnapping Leila and using evil sorcery. Sinbad has to escape to rescue the princess and dear his name. Which is where you come in...

FARE'S FAIR
What we have here is the usual scrolling platform fare. Guide Sinbad across the screens, leaping unleapable gaps and whacking all sorts of nasties in the process. On the face of it there doesn't seem to be much to distinguish Arabian Nights from the 1001 other platform romps.

Fortunately, there's more to it than first meets the eye. Apart from beating the necessary joystick-twitching dangers, playing Arabian Nights requires a little brain power as krisalis have had the foresight to include a puzzle element in the game. Not only does it make up playing and winning harder, it also adds to the lastability of the whole thing.

The puzzles are not brain straining but serve as a useful diversion from the main action. For instance on level two Sinbad has to find some way to reach a high platform. Look carefully and you'll see a flower which looks as though it needs watering. If you check your inventory (he can carry up to 36 items at once) you won't find any liquid. However, earlier in the level he upset a bear which is now weeping; to carry the water you'll need some kind of container, and a search will reveal an old granny who gives you her thimble. Put two and two together and Sinbad will soon be reaching new heights. Don't worry if this seems too obscure to solve immediately, because whenever he needs one, Sinbad will be given an on-screen clue. This appears in the form of a light bulb above the character's head and pressing the space bar brings up a message. Sometimes this is a clue, at others it will warn you of a hidden danger immediately ahead.

SPRINTING ARAB
Sinbad is a nippy little fella and zooms around the platforms. He animates at a speedy 50 frames per second and, if you've got an '030 processor or higher, pressing F10 toggles him up to 60 fps! Not only is he fast, he's fairly agile too. He can leap huge gaps and do a snazzy running slide which, if he ducks at the same time, is extremely useful in avoiding low hanging spikes. Each of the nine levels is littered with these spikes, as well as acid pits, large spiky balls and other objects which must be avoided at all costs.

Coupled with the background stuff are a smattering of nasty characters who seem intent on stopping Sinbad fulfilling his quest. Contact with these objects and creatures saps our Sin of his vital energy, so either dodge them where possible or whip out your trusty sword for a swift bit of slicing.

Speaking of energy, Sinbad starts off with a fairly limited amount, denoted by blue rectangles in the left corner of the screen. Every contact with a dangerous object takes away at east one of these bars. Fortunately, scattered around the levels are treasure chests which contain varying amounts of extra energy. These chests are vital to his health and must not be squandered. Some house special magical amulets which increase the total energy units Sinbad can have. They may also contain certain useful power-ups, including keys, speedy boots and weapon boosts - Sinbad starts off with a fairly weedy sword, more of a penknife, really but this can be increased on later levels to a longer, missile throwing slicer. it's absolutely vital to keep the various objects that you find as they will almost certainly be put to good use at some point. Tapping the space bar brings up the inventory and you can alter the objects that Sinbad's carrying in his hands according to need.

One of the main pluses of the game is the amount of variety between levels. Not only do the backdrops change, but also the style of gameplay. Level one is the Caliph's dungeon and, apart from the puzzles, is a simple platform game, likewise level two, set in the forest. But level three has Sinbad on board a flying carpet swooping across the skies in a basic shoot 'em up. Later levels consist of an under water maze, another shoot 'em up and there's even an Indiana Jones style mine cart race.

GOOD AND BAD
Arabian Nights has a lot going for it. Both the coder, Simeon Pashley, and the artist, Darren Hebden, have obviously put a lot of thought into it. Every level contains some nice comic touches, which range from Sinbad's precarious balancing act when he's too close to the edge of a platform to the jumping sheep which leap up to smash into his flying carpet (and emit a plaintive 'Baa!' when they get shot). The animation is top notch as is the soundtrack.

However, there's also a lot missing. I would have liked for there to have been more baddies and a few more power-ups. Despite the level variance, it all seems repetitive after a while. Equally, the restart points for when Sinbad is killed seem to have been chosen with little thought. There's also an odd mix of scrolling and flip-screen movement - why didn't they settle for one way of redrawing the screen?

Despite these drawbacks, this is still one helluva game. I can recommend it to anyone with a love for platform romps who fancies some thing a little different.

Arabs eh? Are they all called Sinbad? The main protagonist in this Middle East affair is not a sailor but an apprentice gardener at the local royal palace. But it seems that our Sinbad has eyes for only one petal, and that is the Princess Laila (not the one from Star Wars, nor the one that got Eric Clapton on his knees). Meanwhile, in another part of the world, an evil chap hell bent on ruling the kingdom casts a spell and kidnaps Laila while Sinbad's vain attempts at rescue fail miserably and he is arrested by palace guards for sorcerous deeds. Unfair, but you need a plot don't you?

Sinbad's task is to escape the dungeon and rescue the woman he loves. In the winking of an eye you are off on nine fun-filled levels of platform mayhem, collecting everything in sight, solving puzzles and slaying baddies left, right and centre. It is not outrageously difficult but it is certainly addictive with large, well-animated sprites and catchy tunes and effects.

There are vicious end of level guardians to tackle and one of the levels puts you on a flying carpet with bleating sheep winging their way towards you - honest. Arabian Nights is a chirpy platform outing and it is not going to break the back at 15 quid.

This disc goes to prove one thing, you don't need masses of video bites and lengthy CD soundtracks to make a good game. With Arabian Nights you simply get the same quality action you get on floppy disk.

The only thing this has in common with the original Arabian Nights legends is that the main character is called Sinbad; although this one's given up sea-faring for a spot of gardening. Still, with baggy trousers, a traditional fez on his head, and a sword given to him by Sinbad Senior, he is destined to become a hero.

While indulging in a spot of late night pruning, he sees the local princess, Laila, being carried off into the night by a creature summoned up by the evil Vizier. Realising that if he told anyone what had seen they'd probably think had spent too much time in the mushroom patch, he sets out to rescue the Princess himself. The resulting adventure is one of the best platform games of 1993. It combines masses of levels with taxing gameplay as you hack n' slash your way through the Vizier's evil henchmen.

There are a few pick-ups for extra lives, energy and weapons, but these are few and far between, especially on the later levels.

Arabian Nights doesn't have the kind of flashy features of other CD games, but what it does have is plenty of playability and enough of a challenge to keep you hooked for a long time.