Clockwerx developed by Bulletproof Software published by Spectrum Holobyte for Macintosh July 6, 1995 This game is my latest Macdiction. What else can you expect from the creator of Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov? We all know that intense blasters with 3 dimensional graphics ain't his bag. And he doesn't fall in for cute little fuzzy platform dwellers. Nah, this guy likes brain games. Games that, for the most part, are designed to squeeze your neuro-crainial membrane until you just can't take it anymore. Ahh yes, frustration is an ever present component of Pajitnov's games and Clockwerx is no exception. So, pull up your office chair and I'll fill ya in on the game. First thing you should know is that the graphics suck. It looks like one of those lousy shareware games you spend 20 minutes downloading from your local BBS and end up playing all of five seconds. Well, you aren't going to be through with this one in five seconds let me tell you. Once you get over the fact that for the most part the game looks like a square pin cushion with 3D pegs and 2D clock hands circling them, you'll start to notice how simply inspired the game play is. The object of the game is to get your little clock hand from the starting dot to the finishing dot by flipping and swinging clock- and counter-clockwise over the entirety of the dotted board. Along the way (and this is where it gets frustrating) you encounter rival clock hands which are rotating in their own separate directions with one uniform purpose; smack into your clock hand and blow it up. And that ain't all. There is also a colourful assortment of other equally lethal obstacles; spiked balls, bundles of dynamite with extremely dangerous lit wicks, homing acid puddles (that split into two and chase you), opening and closing doors that are activated by the swinging of your clock hand over insidiously placed sensors, erratically spaced walls that force you to bounce of off them into oncoming ticking traffic and, fittingly, the ever present element of time; as in constantly running out of it. There are some helpful elements along the way as well. Mr. Patijnov was kind enough to provide you with hyperdots to teleport you from one dot to another, albeit sometimes that doesn't necessarily take you out of harms way. Yes, life is tough for our little clock hand that could. Luckily your clock hand has friendly hourglasses that it can swing over that will provide it with more time to survive (if it dares!). One more thing (and this is really cool, I have to say!), there are also, from time to time, these little pink balls floating around that are called wall breakers. Can you guess what they do? This is the man responsible for all that mental anguish! The best puzzle maker in the vid game biz, Alexey Patijnov. Buy this game for your beloved Mac. There aren't enough good games for your computer, you might as well dignify it with the inclusion of something truly great. I'm telling you, Mr. Patijnov knows how to make 'em. Are you brave enough to play 'em? Actually the question should be; are you smart enough to play 'em? Don't answer that till you've played through a few levels of this. I'm giving Clockwerx for the Mac..........................................8.5 out of 10 Victor Lucas