Diamond Plateaus in Space. As a Limited Edition, Crystal Castles is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a true software legend."

"When I first saw Crystal Castles, its shock waves almost knocked me off my feet. That was so long ago. I cannot conceive that you will ever buy it in a shop - I'll believe it when I see it! It's like a state of manic hysteria on diamond plateaus in deep space - some things are beyond description."

- Julian Rignall

You play Bentley, a bear with a passion for collecting gems. The gems are scattered on the floors of a series of eighteen 3D structures packed with lifts, ramps, tunnels and hidden passages. To prevent you completing your task there are various creatures, each with their own characteristics. The mad marbles try to take the shortest route towards you. The tree-spirits do the same, but are frozen for a while if you jump over them. The skeletons move at random, but tend to block your way. The gem-eaters (which look like centipedes on their hind-legs) can be seen swallowing the gems inside them; if you attack one in mid-gulp, it will be destroyed. Bethilda The Witch may only be killed when you are wearing the magic hat, which makes you invincible for a short time. If you take too long on a screen, the bees will arrive in a swarm to chase you.

The honey-pot is worth bonus points if collected, but it and the hat cannot be negotiated by the nasties, so should be used strategically. There is a bonus of 1000 + SCREEN x 100 awarded for clearing the last gem on the screen, so don't let the baddies get it. Watch as the screens are built-up to see where the passageways and tunnels are; remember that you can walk around behind some of the structures.

Some enemies move predictably, and the good player uses this to their advantage to remove gems in awkward places, or to trap the trees etc. out of the way. The last gem is sometimes hidden under the hat, remember that you can pick the hat up by jumping over it as well as walking over it.

There are eighteen different screens in the game; if you can complete these you will start again at fast speed. The tape version uses three short files, each holding the information for six screens of action. When you have completed the first section on the tape version, you will be prompted occasionally to load a new set of screens. You may choose any set here, so you can play or practice in the order you want. The flipside of the tape contains just the data files for the game.

Each gem collected: 10
Collecting the honey-pot or magic hat: 1000
Killing a gem-eater or Bethilda: 1000
Bonus for collecting the last gem on a screen: 1000 + SCREEN x 100
Lives are displayed at the top of the screen. An extra life is awarded every 10,000 points

Z - Left, X - Right, : - Up, / - Down, RETURN - Fire
DELETE/COPY - Pause On/Off, ESCAPE - Abort Game
S - Sound on, Q - Quiet (From hi-score table only)