BIGBOX THRILLS!

What's the best way to catch up on all the great games that appeared on the Spectrum a while back. One: go out and buy every single one and spend a fortune? Tow: pop around to your mate's house and nick his copies? Or three: take a trip down to your local software shop and snap up one of the great new compilations? Well, one's only for the stupid, two's only for complete basts, so it must be three! NICK ROBERTS gives you the low-down on the current hits in compilation land!

Code Masters
£2.99

At that sort of price you can't go wrong, really. All the packs are themed but that doesn't mean there's a lack of variety because there's plenty of different game styles to contend with (you would not believe it, etc etc...).

Quattro Sports is probably one of the best packs on offer with: Grand Prix Sim, a well-playable overhead Super Sprint effort, Pro Ski Sim, an addictive ski game, Pro Snooker Sim is one of the best snooker sims around, and BMX Sim you've already played, 'cos it's on the Code Masters tape this issue! Hurrah!

RICH PELLEY dons his washing-up gloves and prepares to take on those oh-so-murky depths of...

BARGAIN BASEMENT

CodeMasters
£2.99
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

Q What do you get if you cross a BMX simulator, a Grand Prix simulator, a ski simulator and a snooker simulator?

A An alarm-clock radio. Ha ha. Oh... Wrong punchline. No, you get four sports simulators neatly scrunched into one. (Ahem.) First to scrogg it is BMX
Simulator - the game which put the word 'simulator' into, erm, simulators. Dash around billions of different bumpy tracks on BMXs (avec an overhead
view) against the computer or a buddy with lots of nice things such as replays and tunes and so on. It's 'top notch'. Then there's Grand Prix Simulator
- a complete Supersprint rip-off, yes (ie racing around Grand Prix circuits), but squillions better. Much the same as its friend BMX Sim come to think
of it, except this time there are no spooky ramps or bumps, hence its not quite such a laff. But still pretty good.

Verging more towards the skiing side of things there's, erm, Pro Ski Simulator. It's your usual ski-down-a-slope-at-27-billion-miles-an-hour jobby.
Playable but boring. And finally we come on to Pro Snooker Simulator, which, to be honest, is a bit crap really due to the severe lack of colours (pink
sort of flashes at you and green - well, don't ask about green) and a complete lack of realism - there are balls flying all over the shop. And there. my
luvvlies, you go. One brill game, one good game, one not-quite-so-good-but-not-that-bad-either game, and one crap one. What do you reckon, gang? Same here. A complete barg.