Hyper Sports

Producer: Imagine
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code

Imagine continue their comeback with what could be called the real follow-up to Daley Thompson's Decathlon. Hyper Sports is the official Spectrum version of Konami's arcade game which followed in the footsteps of the highly original Hyper Olympics (or Track and Field as the Taitel/Konami version was called).

To Track and Field fanatics this scenario will seem very similar, but don't worry! Hyper Sports isn't just a test of brute strength like its predecessor, but involves timing and skill too. Each event has a qualifying time, distance or target, and to go onto the next event you have to qualify in the preceding one - failure to do so results in the termination of your game. There are six of the original events; swimming, skeet shooting, horse vaulting, archery, triple jump and weight lifting.

When you start a game you are given the familiar letter 'star' and you use this to enter your initials. Once you've identified yourself, you move onto the events, which commence with swimming. Smash the keyboard (or your joystick) to bits to get speed and when given the prompt, press the jump button to let your man breathe. If you don't he'll slow down, and if you press breathe at the wrong time your man will cough and splutter and REALLY slow down.

The swimming is reasonably simple and so is the next event, the skeet (or clay pigeon) shooting. Your man stands at the bottom of the screen with a shotgun while two boxes move up and down the screen, acting as sights. Shoot as many of the skeets that fly over by pressing either the left or right key as one passes through the corresponding sight. If you time your shot correctly then you hit the skeet. You have three separate attempts to qualify, and when you're successful your man turns, winks and gives you a big grin!

Next, into the gym and onto (or over) the wooden horse. Your man automatically runs up to the horse but you must time his jump onto the springboard correctly, using the jump button, for him to vault. Too soon and you won't get much of a jump; too late and he will trip up. Time the jump correctly and he will be launched through the air, to land hands first on the horse. When his body is horizontal press fire again and hit the speed buttons as fast as you can to make him somersault. Time the somersault so he lands on his feet otherwise he'll cartwheel along the floor or bounce on his head, both of which lose points.

After this comes the archery - one of the most difficult of the events. Pressing fire determines wind speed and then a target is winched down the screen which you have to hit. To do this allow for wind speed and let go of the arrow by pressing the jump button. Make sure your angle is as near to five degrees as possible and if you have timed right you will get a bullseye (worth 400 points).

Onto the triple jump now and it's all hands on the speed buttons. Zoom up to the line and press the jump button, trying to get as near to 45 degrees as possible. Repeat twice for the step and the jump and then wait for the measuring. After three jumps you can progress to the final and the most strenuous round, the weight lifting.

This is a pound-your-Spectrum-keyboard-through-the-floor screen. First select the weight you want to tackle then it's off on a merry pound that'll bring tears to your eyes and quite possibly a nasty mess oozing from your Spectrum. Once you start the weightlifting you have to pound away until your man lifts the weight to his chest. When he has done this press jump to 'snatch' the weights and pummel away at the key board to keep them above his head. Once that is over you can go to hospital to get an organ transplant and come back to start the series of events again, only this time it's a lot harder with all the qualifying times upped.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: any
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: brilliant, with nice landscapes
Graphics: smooth, detailed, well animated with nice scrolling
Sound: excellent applause, tunes and effects
Skill levels: as you progress qualifying targets get smaller
Lives: 1
Screens: 6 events

A superb arcade clone with Imagine getting as close to the original as possible within the limits of the Spectrum. All the events represented here are very close to the original, as fans of the game will find out when they try out their arcade tactics. The graphics are excellent with few attribute problems and the colours are well used with nice use of normal and bright. The man is excellently animated as he swims, jumps, and shoots his way through the events. Sound is excellent too, with all the familiar noises of the arcade game which are superbly reproduced. The game itself is very addictive and as strength draining as Daley's, but this time your reflexes and timing are tested too, giving welcome breaks between bouts of keyboard destruction. A brilliant follow-up to World Series Baseball and one which shows that Imagine are well on their way back to the top.

It's nice to see the name Imagine associated with good games again. Hyper Olympic, the arcade hit, has now been Spectrumised. This version follows the original really closely, even down to the bird which flies across the screen when you get a maximum on the skeet shooting. Also like the real thing, the game is no piece of cake either. It's really frustrating having to go back to the start if the odd arrow is a couple of points of a degree out. Never mind, great game, just like the original.

Being a lover of sports simulations, I was very pleased to hear that this great game was to be converted to the Spectrum, but I had doubts about what the quality would be like. I'm pleased to announce that this conversion is excellent. The graphics, of course, aren't as good as those seen in the arcade game, but with that said they are still pretty good. Hyper Sports is instantly playable due to its simple game style and it is quite addictive, as was DTD. There might not be as many events, but it is definitely a more slick and polished program. If you want a true-to-the-arcade-game copy, then this is the one to get. Another winner from Imagine!

The Hit Squad
£2.99 (rerelease)

Almost the original 'waggle your joystick until it chokes and dies' game, Hyper Sports was a brill sports simulation for it's time. Originally released in 1985 by Imagine, it includes six wholesome events to get stuck into. Each one is controlled using just the left, right and fire keys.

Swimming comes first, and the budding athlete must perform a racing dive into the pool and move the left and right arms with the corresponding key. This is great fun, tapping away and going jolly fast, when suddenly the swimmer begins to choke and you find out that FIRE makes him breathe!

Skeet Shooting is next on the menu (what did the poor Skeet do then?). The controls for this are weird at first. You must use left to move the sights up (!) and right to move along then fire at the target. Fast reactions are needed to pass this event.

The Long Horse is welcome relief from the Skeet Shooting. All you have to do is lump on the springboard and somersault over the long horse. Timing is essential because otherwise you will do yourself some terrible damage! Archery, Triple jump and one for the macho men (and women), Weight-Lifting, are also in the line up. The question is, will you have the energy to take them all on?

The graphics were outstanding in 1985, but you can hardly expect them to keep up with some of today's. Colourless sprites of the players leap and bound around the screen with the more colourful backgrounds scrolling by. They're still pretty good though.

Hyper Sports is a classic Spectrum game. If you didn't get it first time round, this is a chance you cannot miss. Definitely one for the collection.

The Hit Squad
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

More sporting laffs from Ocean's cheapie label, and another game that doesn't look quite as fab as it did four years ago, when it originally came out. At least there's a bit of variety, though there's no running or throwing, just swimming, skeet shooting (oi! you've just shot me skeet!), long horse, archery, triple jump and weightlifting. But surprise, surpirse - all of these involve the dread joystick waggling at some point, and indeed swimming and weightlifting offer nothing else. These days sports sims actually call for a little skill - brute strength is no longer enough. But if you're an enormous lunk with no manual dexterity to speak of, Hyper Sports is worth a punt.

Rick: Now, I always thought that Hypersports was skiving off cross country with the lovely Sharon to share a No. 6 but this classy sporting simulation takes you through swimming, skeet shooting, (C'mon. get your skeets on. Ed), vaulting, archery, triple jump and weigh lifting. Not even Daley Thompson combines that little lot so you can class yourself quite a little hexathlete (calm down, I said hex!) if you make it to the end. You'll be just about ready for Seoul by then.

You start off with the swimming that's guaranteed to work you up into a quick frenzy - all that joystick wagglin' and fire button breathin'. Sort of underwater DT's, if you see what I mean. But while the swimming's all brawn the skeet's all reflex - the nice computer aims the gun for you so you only have to shoot. Only in the later sections do the old hand/eye co-ordinates require any grey matter. The vaulting and the triple jump are the hardest to master at the outset, but here the graphics are especially eye-catching. Watch out as well, for the wink of success when you qualify in the shooting and the rude noise when the vaulter comes a cropper. My only gripe is that it's a bit of a bore having to go back to the beginning if you fail to qualify at any of the rounds.

This is about the only way I'll do a triple jump in my bedroom! 4/5 HIT

Ross: What a sports simulation. The events have mostly done away with the key bashin', joystick thrashin' of previous games of this ilk. and I don't like to boast but I bet there's not many of you on your third time round already. Huh? 4/5 HIT

Roger: All this exercise is doing me in... I told the Ed, the old wrists'll pack in again but he won't listen. I dunno he'll want me to start reviewing out of bed soon. 4/5 HIT

Publisher: Imagine
Price: £7.95
Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston, Cursor
Memory: 48K

Get into training, sports fans, for a compilation of sporting simulations from Imagine '84.

Hypersports is licensed from the Japanese amusement arcade game of the same name, and should not be confused with Daley Thompson's Supertest, about to be released by sister company Ocean. On the other hand, it does the same sort of thing, and will test your biceps to the utmost as you pump the joystick in agony.

Swim two lengths of the pool, remembering to breathe. The graphics on this event are the poorest of the six.

There are three other swimmers, and the end of the pool moves towards the swimmers, rather than the swimmers moving at different speeds.

The game gets its feet on firmer ground with the clay pigeon shooting. The twin sights move up automatically, and you must time your shots to hit the clay pigeons, or skeets.

The vault has the athlete trying to somersault as far as he can from a gymnasium horse, and an archery contest involves shooting at a moving target, taking wind and elevation into account.

The triple jump will be familiar to Decathlon players as a more complex version of the long jump, but the real killer is the weightlifting. An hilariously musclebound, moustached klutz creaks and groans in his efforts to raise the dumb-bell, and you must choose the weight at which you want to compete. This is the event which really taxes your joystick wrist, and risks terminal damage to the keyboard.

The graphics are more varied and generally better than Daley Thompson's Decathlon, with much more humour. You play through the sequence until you fail to qualify three times, and each new round raises the qualifying level. There are tables for the three best results at each event, and the game certainly presents a challenging experience.

Hypersports is almost assured of success in the shops, but whether it is better than Daley Thompson's Decathlon is another matter. The programming is certainly of similar excellence, except for the swimming event, but the sports themselves do not form a coherent sequence, in the way that the 10 decathlon sports do.

It is certainly superior to the current crop of sports simulations, and it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against Daley Thompson's Supertest, shortly to come.

Now only available on compilations, e.g. Konami's Arcade Collection
Amstrad, £9.99cs, £17.95dk
C64, £9.99cs, £17.95dk
Spectrum, £9.99cs, £17.95dk

One of the all-time best waggling games. It's a real test of endurance and timing as you try to waggle your way through the swimming event to the skeet (clay pigeon) shooting (take a breather from the waggling) and then the gymnastics event. Next comes archery and the triple jump before you get into a murderously strenuous bout of weightlifting. Great fun that'll really test how fit your joystick arm is.

MACHINE: Spectrum, CBM 64, Amstrad
SUPPLIER: Imagine
PRICE: Spectrum (£7.95), Amstrad & CBM 64 (£8.95)

This time last year you couldn't go into a arcade without hearing the rattle of furious fingers on buttons as everyone attempted to beat world records for athletic events on Hyper Sports - Konami's brilliantly timed Olympic simulation.

Now, at last, you can get versions of the game on home computers - many of which are bound to be wrecked as gamesters everywhere go for the BURN!

The resurrected Imagine company bring you this game based on the arcade classic. Sports featured are swimming, clay pigeon shooting, vaulting, archery, the triple jump and weightlifting.

All require good hand to eye co-ordination and fast reactions to succeed. We looked at the Spectrum version for the purposes of this review - and the graphics and animation are above standard for all the events.

Swimming requires you time your breathing just right, and the novel clay-pigeon sequence makes demands on your joystick/keyboard skills to blast the clay targets out of the sky. In the vaulting sequence you have to control your athlete as he leaps over a vaulting-horse. Get it wrong and you end up in a heap on the floor!

Archery requires you shoot a moving target - extremely tricky - while the triple-jump returns more traditional sports-simulation, joystick-wriggling techniques. Weightlifting provides a test of strength, stamina and timing - and is an original addition to the game.

Criticisms of the game include the fact that you can't jump from event to event at will - you have to qualify in each one to progress through the game. There isn't a practice mode either - useful in any home micro sports game.

I also found the Spectrum version difficult to play using a joystick - keyboard controls were much better. And the program allows you to redefine them.

STOP PRESS: We've just seen the C64 version - and it's a peach! Terrific sound, brilliant graphics - but still easier to play using the keyboard. Just listen to the Chariots of Fire theme tune and you'll be hooked.

MACHINE: CBM 64, Spectrum, Amstrad
SUPPLIER: Imagine
PRICE: CBM 64 and Amstrad (£8.95), Spectrum (£7.95)

Hypersports, Konami's great simulation, is just as big a hit on the home micro as it was in the arcades.

Six frantically exhausting events are featured - swimming, skeet shooting, long horse, archery, the triple jump and weightlifting, Each one requires good co-ordination and fast reflexes.

The Commodore version features terrific sound, and music - Chariots of Fire - plus brilliant graphics.

Judy's verdict: These graphics are almost as good as the arcades.

PRICE: £7.95

Blisters on the hands of a Sinclair Programs reviewer? It can only mean one thing. Hypersports from Imagine is up and running.

Six stages. Swimming involves straightforward pounding your joystick from side to side, with the odd flick of the fire button when the screen tells you to breathe. Simple enough, the other three swimmers present no challenge and it is not hard to score a world record.

On to the skeet shooting, better(?) known as clay-pigeon shooting. Initially confusing, the computer aims the sights for you, and you have to choose which sights to use, and then fire. Once the instructions click into place it is easy to hit anything the program chooses to fling at you.

The long horse requires consistent performance as it is marked on angle, speed, distance and landing. Once you solve it your character jumps up and down with glee.

Archery is the least realistic of the games. Targets move across the right hand side of the screen. Scoring a bullseye means releasing your arrow at exactly the right moment, and keeping your finger on the fire button until your arrow is travelling at precisely the right angle.

Triple jump and weight lifting? Hence the reviewer's blisters. It is only possible to progress in Hypersports once you have reached the qualifying score for the each level. Though a world record holder in the first four events the fourth is still a puzzle.

Not as punishing on the joystick as Decathlon, Hypersparts is produced by Imagine 85, 6 Central Street, Manchester.

Imagine
£7.95

Look out joystick, here we go again! In this variation of the track and field type of program, a new set of events are presented to test your wrist stamina and joystick ruggedness.

The sports presented in this section are:

1. Swimming, a rapid L/R movement plus pressing fire at the correct time when prompted to breathe.

2. Skeet shooting, no aiming required just L/R when the skeet is in sight. Good reactions required.

3. Long Horse, this requires judgment on when to press the fire button followed by rapid L/R action.

4. Archery, judging when to press fire and how long to hold it down.

5. Triple Jump, rapid L/R movement followed by holding button down for the best amount of time.

6. Weight Lifting, L/R, timing of button press then more L/R action.

I was never a fan of the original variations of Track and Field but to be honest I really enjoyed the game and probably spent longer on it than on any other game I've seen recently.

The graphics are of the high quality that we expect from both this type of program and imagine, and there are some nice touches. I enjoyed watching the man bounce along on his head when I misjudged his Long Horse jump!

Great for fans of sports games, it should also make a few more converts. My only criticism is that I couldn't practice each event separately.

Joystick manufacturers will love it.

ARCADE

Clare Edgeley blasts her way through a wealth of challenging software.

Get fit quick just about sums up the last 12 months. 1985 has seen enough sports games to put you off doing anything more strenuous than lifting a pint glass, at least for the next year.

Since the 1984 Olympics, we have competed in every imaginable sport: played footie with Bobby Charlton, run rings round Daley Thompson and been KO'd by big Frank... There is hardly an action sport left which has not been turned into a money spinner, with a Sportsman's name attached. What is wrong with Tessa Sanderson's Javelin anyway?

Daley Thompson's Decathlon was first to the tape back in November '84 and notched up a gold for Ocean when it jumped to number one in the charts for a few weeks. You have to compete in all ten events of the decathlon, taking part in the high jump, long jump and pole vault as well as track events. The 400m is the most gruelling and to keep up speed you must pump the joystick back and forth, which may result in a touch of cramp. The graphics are colourful and the game does give a taste of the real thing.

Melbourne House also attempted a compilation of events with Sports Hero, although it was nowhere near as successful as Daley Thompson. Sports Hero has you competing in four events - 100m sprint, long jump, 110m hurdles and the pole vault, over three difficulty levels. To gain speed you must pummel the run button and press the jump button before takeoff. Aching fingers seem to be the norm in that type of game and in many cases you will end up with a sick keyboard as well. There is no sound and the graphics are not fantastic, although the scrolling background is interesting. A few more events should have been possible.

More recently, Brian Jacks' Superstar Challenge from Martech reached the top ten, although it came a poor second to Imagine's Hypersports. Both contain a weird hotch-potch of events - some interesting, others boring. Brian Jacks gives you a pretty raw deal. For £7.95 you can immerse yourself in such exciting events as squat thrusts and arm dips. Those may be thrilling to watch on TV but on computer they are about as much fun as a wet blanket.

Hypersports is a different ball game altogether. Licensed from the arcade game of the same name, the computer version is very like the original, although some events lack imagination. When swimming - or floundering, if you forget to breathe - instead of tearing down to the end of the pool, the end moves towards you. Clay pigeon shooting is certainly one of the better events, in which you must shoot the skeets through automatically moving sights. The vault is tricky and rather than vaulting as far as possible from the horse, you are likely to end up on your head beside it. The graphics are generally thought to be more professional than Daley Thompson's Decathlon, though whether the game is better is a moot point.

Jonah Barrington's Squash from New Generation is an interesting concept which seems to have fallen flat. Knock a miniscule black ball round the 3D court and try to beat Jonah at his own game. Jonah is one of Britain's leading squash players. Much was made of the fact that a taped recording of Jonah's voice calls out the scores. Unfortunately, all you get is an unintelligible gabble and it is easier to read them on the score board anyway.

We awarded imagine's World Series Baseball three stars in the June issue, which just goes to show that our forecasts are not always spot on. In June, July and August it remained at number three in the charts, only dropping to eleventh place in September.

The game opens with a traditional rendering of the tAmerican National Anthem. Then play starts, with one team pitching and the other batting. You can play with a friend or against the computer, adjusting the speed and direction of the ball when pitching and the strength and lift of your swing when batting. Loving attention has been paid to detail with a large scoreboard displaying genuine adverts between innings.

Last, but not least, boxing - the sport for ugly mugs. Cauliflower ears and battered brains are only half the fun - just think what you can do to your opponent. A few months ago three games were released simultaneously on the back of Punch Out!!, a highly successful arcade game.

Elite's Frank Bruno's Boxing knocks Rocco and Knockout for six, and is easily the most playable and realistic, offering more possible moves and a greater number of competitors than either of the other games. It is also the only boxing game featuring a sporting personality - Bruno helped in an advisory capacity during production which explains the close attention to detail.

Gremlin Graphic's Rocco squares up well in the ring, though you will find it is not as easy to dodge your opponent as it is in Frank Bruno, and there are only three competitors. The scoring system is simple and the graphics are the clearest of the three games. It is worth playing and annihilates Alligata's Knockout in the ring.

Knockout is appalling and lacks any addictive qualities. It is the only game which uses colour - the others being mono - although that could have been sacrificed for extra playability. Other than left and right punches to the body and head, there is no facility for ducking and dodging, but at least you can amble away if the going gets too rough. You tend to spend a great deal of time seeing stars after being KO'd. At least it lives up to its name.

The legendary success of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy lives on. Platform and ladders games are still the rage and dozens of versions have landed in the Sinclair User offices over the last 12 months. Two years ago Manic Miner was a sure recipe for success, and because it was ahead of its time a lot of money was made. Programming techniques are now more sophisticated and with games like Alien 8 and Spy vs Spy around, who needs a Manic Miner spin-off?

However, they are here to stay and some at least are worth the money you pay for them. One of the more successful games is Strangeloop, released late in '84, which has gone a long way to repairing the damage done to Virgin by Sheepwalk - one of its earliest and most awful games.

A half-crazy computer is the source of all your troubles in Strangeloop and, playing the part of a metagalactic repairman, you must shut it down. There are over 240 rooms filled with lethal swarf which attacks and damages your space suit. A jetbike waits somewhere and will make your task easier but you have to locate and refuel it first. Objects picked up will help with various tasks and friendly robots will patch your torn suit. The graphics are colourful and simple. and there is even a facility for saving your position on tape, to be resumed later when you have recharged your batteries.

Jet Set Willy II is the biggest rip-off of them all as Software Projects has done little other than add about 70 extra screens to the original. Essentially it is the same as Jet Set Willy which was launched back in 1984. The plot is similar; clear up the house before going to bed and avoid the hundreds of lethal thingummies found in each room. Despite being little more than a re-release, Jet Set Willy II is currently doing very well in the charts.

Despite the lack of original thought, if you are still hooked on the challenge of platform and ladders, try The Edge's Brian Bloodaxe. A loopy game if ever there was one. Brian, a viking soldier has been trapped in a block of ice for centuries, and as it thaws, he leaps out shivering, but ready to conquer the British. Flapping 100 seats, deadly ducks and mad Scotsmen are a few of the dangers that lurk on each level. Objects to collect and chasms to be leapt add to his daunting task. Brian Bloodaxe is at least as good as Jet Set Willy, with much visual humour and bright, clear graphics.

Hewson, which has made a name for itself in recent months with arcade adventures such as Dragontorc and simulations like Heathrow ATC, must have had a brain storm late last year with Technician Ted, which is totally unlike the semi-serious games released since. Guide Ted around a silicon chip factory while looking for a plate of the real things. Pick up knives, forks and other necessary implements and avoid several nasty traps. Easy to play and reasonably addictive, Technician Ted is not one of Hewson's best games but has done quite well in the platform and ladders stakes.

Artic's Mutant Monty is more sophisticated than Technician Ted and includes some extremely tricky screens requiring split second timing - if you are slightly out, a lemon or some other incongruous object will squash you flat, and then where will the beautiful maiden be? it is a constant source of amusement that so much work goes into preparing intricate story lines bearing absolutely no resemblance to the game you are playing.

On the whole rip-offs are uniformly mediocre in standard and not the sort of game you would buy for lasting playability. Real fanatics will find Activision's Toy Bizarre and Micromega's Jasper a doddle, and probably have more fun playing blindfold with their hands tied behind their backs. Both games are average and employ run-of-the-mill graphics. In Toy Bizarre, the player leaps round the levels of a toy factory popping balloons while being chased by a gang of irate toys.

Meanwhile, in Jasper much the same thing is going on, only this time you are a furry rat collecting money bags and treasure chests while avoiding furry cats, rabbits and other hairy animals. Platform games are usually fast moving and it is generally easier to keep up with the pace using a joystick. Unless you have very strong fingers, Jasper is doomed as your only option is to use the Spectrum's sticky keyboard.

Arcade adventures have come into their own in recent months, some remaining for weeks at a time in the top ten. With the advent of games like Gyron, fewer people are willing to put up with games like Jet Pac - classics two years ago but now gathering dust in cupboards across the country.

Superior graphics is the name of the game and the Spectrum is being stretched to its limits in a constant effort to improve software. Some games combine excellent graphics with originality, though equally large numbers have been launched on the back of the successful few. Ultimate's Knight Lore, Underwurlde and Alien 8 are three successful examples and Nightshade is expected to do as well.

Underwurlde is rather like a vertical Atic Atac featuring the Sabre-man who must escape a series of chambers while avoiding hosts of nasties. The pace is fast, the screens colourful - a devious game.

Knight Lore and Alien 8 could, at first glance, be mistaken for the same game. Featuring superb 3D grahpics, Knight Lore's hero must search a maze of rooms and find the ingredients of a spell to lift a curse placed upon him. Each room presents a challenge and one wrong move spells instant death. The scenario in Alien 8 is different from its predecessor and the quality of graphics is even higher.

Wizard's Lair from Bubble Bus is an Atic Atac lookalike with shades of Sabre Wulf and is an excellent game, even if you have seen the same sort of thing before. Bubble Bus has made some attempt to change the scenario which covers three levels, accessed via a magic wardrobe lift.

The programmers of Firebird's Cylu were influenced by Alien 8. Cylu is in the Silver range and at £2.50 represents very good value - it is almost as frustrating as the original but the graphics are a little patchy. Ultimate should be proud that so many companies want to copy their games, though it's a crying shame that those same software houses cannot put their combined programming expertise to good use, and produce something original of their own.

Games featuring film scenarios and famous names are often the subject of massive advertising campaigns, and Domark's A View to a Kill was no exception. Played in three parts you must guide the intrepid 007 through the streets of Paris, San Francisco and into Silicon Valley to stop the evil Max Zorin from tipping chip valley into the drink. The game received mixed reviews but, at the time of writing, it had just made it into the top ten - probably due to the James Bond name. It is an exciting game but lacks much visual detail.

The Rocky Horror Show from CRL is already sliding down the charts and does not live up to its namesakes, the film and play. Rescue Janet or Brad from the Medusa machine by finding 15 component parts of the de-Medusa machine. It sounds riveting. Your task seems enormous as you can carry only one part of the machine at a time and if you expect to meet normal sane characters in the castle, forget it. More could have been made of the graphics and the action is slow in places, but it is worth playing if only to meet Magenta who will strip you of your clothes. Wow!

Beyond's Spy vs Spy is unique and features simultaneous play between two players on a split screen. Take part in the zany humour of MAD magazine's two famous characters, the black spy and the white spy, each trying to stop the other finding secret documents in a foreign embassy. Set whacky traps as you ransack each room before escaping to the airport. It is fun, highly addictive and very amusing. Buying the licence to films, books and names is an expensive business, and at last one company has made the most of it with an excellent game.

It is interesting to note that when one unusual game is launched others of a similar nature swiftly follow. Perhaps all programmers follow the same thought waves. Last summer we had an unusual trio of games, reviewed in May, June and August issues. Two are based on the human body - not the most obvious subject for a game.

Quicksilva's Fantastic Voyage is a thrilling game based on the sixties film of the same name, in which Raquel Welch is injected into the body of a brain damaged scientist. Unfortunately, your mini-sub breaks up and you have only one hour to locate all the missing parts. Searching is a novel experience as you rush from atrium to stomach to lung and heart in a never ending circle. Finding your way to the brain is difficult as it is not signposted and the turning is easy to miss. Dine on red blood cells to keep up your energy and clear any infections which frequently break out - normally in the most inaccessible parts of the scientist's anatomy. A great way to learn about your bits, and where they are situated.

Icon's Frankenstien 2000 bears little resemblance to Fantastic Voyage, though it is played in a monster's body. Whoever heard of monsters smoking fags? This one obviously did and that is probably why it's dead. On reaching the lungs, battle with cigarette packets, avoid hopping frogs in the trachea, and fire at any oxygen molecules it is your misfortune to encounter. The graphics are uninspired and the game is simple.

Genesis' Bodyworks was reviewed in June and it is difficult to know what to make of it. It is hardly an arcade game - more of an illustrated, educational tour of the workings of a human body, describing the nervous, circulatory and respiratory systems.

Space Invaders was one of the first great games on the Spectrum and software houses have never tired of the theme. Space games crop up in all categories; simulations, adventures and arcade adventures. Activision has even brought out Ballblazer, a sports game played in space. Way out!

Moon Cresta from Incentive is a traditional game in which you shoot everything in sight, and then dock with another space ship before taking off to do exactly the same on the next level. With complex games like Starion around one would think that games of this calibre would flop. But no, there must be some people around whose brains are in their trigger fingers. Surprisingly, Moon Cresta is creeping up the charts. Long live the aliens.

Melbourne House's Starion takes space travel seriously and combines a number of features, including the traditional shoot 'em up, word puzzles and anagrams. Kill off enemy space ships and collect the letters they drop, then unscramble those to form a word. Fly down to earth and answer a puzzle to change the course of Earth's history. There are 243 events to rewrite - and that amounts to a lot of flying time. Starion is well up in the top ten.

System 3 has come up with the goods against all opposition with the dreadful Death Star Interceptor, which has proved surprisingly popular. If you are really into boring games, this is right up your alley. Played in three sections, first take off into outer space, next avoid assorted aliens and then, as in Star Wars, plant a bomb in the exhaust port of an enemy death star. It is all thrilling stuff.

Quicksilva's Glass is amazing to look at. Psychedelic colours make you want to blink in this repetitive but addictive game. There are hundreds of screens to blast through, and whole sections are spent dodging columns as you hurtle through a 3D spacescape. The rest of the time is spent shooting radar antennae off unsuspecting space ships. The graphics make up for any limitations in the game and demonstrates that a traditional shoot 'em up need not be boring.

This final section consists of a number of games which cannot be categorised. A strange mixture falls into this area - many are shoot 'em ups in some form or another, others require an element of cunning and strategy.

Gyron from Firebird, a Sinclair User classic, is a unique game in which you must travel through a complex maze, dodging massive rolling balls and keeping a watchful eye on the guardian towers to be round at each junction. Those shoot at you, but approaching from another angle may change the direction of their fire. As there are two mazes to get through, it should take months. Gyron is likely to deter arcade nuts, but for those with staying power, it is an attractive proposition. It did make a brief appearance in the top ten at the time of writing, but has since fallen away.

US Gold's Spy Hunter, based on the arcade game of the same name, is a faithful replica of the original. It all takes place on the road as you drive your souped-up sports car through a variety of traps laid down by the baddies. Equip your motor with a variety of weapons, obtainable from a weapons van which you drive into Italian Job style. Rockets, smoke screens and oil slicks are all strongly reminiscent of 007.

Elite's Airwolf is a game that we found so hard as to be almost impossible, and which everyone else seemed to find a cinch - and told us so in no uncertain terms! Try if you can, to fly your chopper down a long, narrow tunnel to rescue five scientists stuck at the end. Blast your way through walls, which rematerialise as fast as you can destroy them - a well nigh impossible task for those whose trigger fingers and joysticks have suffered from the likes of Daley Thomson's Decathlon. Airwolf has done better than we predicted. You can't win them all.

Ghostbusters, the mega box office hit last Christmas was a prime candidate for a computer game and Activision was first to the ghost. Featuring all the best parts of the film, it was an instant success and Activision did well to launch it simultaneously with the movie. Drive around the city coaxing ghouls into your ghost trap but listen out for a Marshmallow Alert. That giant sticky marshmallow man is quite capable of flattening whole streets unless halted. Greenbacks play an important part in the game as you have to buy your equipment to get started, and earn enough prize money for the number of ghosts caught, in order to take part in a final showdown with Zuul.

Finally Tapper from US Gold - another Sinclair User classic. Tapper is a simple but refreshing game centered round an all-American soda bar. You play a harassed barman, who must serve his customers with drinks. Easy at first as you slide them down the bar but wait until they have gulped down the fizzy stuff. Running backwards and forwards between four bars, make sure the customers have got a drink, and catch the empties as they come skidding back. There are three difficulty levels, each one faster and more hectic than the last. Tapper is moving up the charts and we are sure that it will go far towards refreshing the parts other games cannot reach.

The fierce competition over the last 12 months has chased many companies into liquidation. There have, however, been successes, particularly with a number of small software houses bringing new blood into the market. That can only be seen as a healthy sign.

The lack of QL games software is the only disappointment. Where is it? Other than a few basic programs such as Reversi, which cut its eye teeth on the ZX-81 years ago, there has been a dearth of games for this flagging micro. If games of the quality of Knight Lore can be produced for the Spectrum, why not for the QL?