Producer: Incentive Software
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Timothy Walter & Philip Taglione

(TRIP TO THE SPACE WAR)

Here's a new game on an old theme that should get the blood racing again! Away with the namby-pamby arcade/adventures! For zap-happy arcade freaks Incentive's new Moon Cresta will revive the good old rainy days spent hurling ten penny pieces into the maw of a dedicated arcade machine. This is a loving (and official) recreation of the Nichibutsu arcade original, right down to the attract mode with a colourful title page and a message reading, 'Moon Cresta - A trip to the Space War - Try it Now! - You can get a lot of Fun and Thrills!' The major change between this, the first ever home computer version, and the original is the panel allowing you to select between the redefinable keyboard controls and joystick options.

Moon Cresta is a classic shoot em up set against a downward scrolling starscape. Your three lives arrive at once as a three-stage rocket which flies to the top and separates, leaving the nose stage to descend afterwards to the base of the screen ready to do battle. If you lose that life then the two remaining stages repeat the process leaving you with the middle stage to fight on. The first stage has a single-firing laser, the second and third stages each have dual-firing lasers. Your craft moves left and right along the base of the screen while the nine different attack waves try to destroy you. There are four waves consisting of blue then yellow aliens (which split into a smaller alien when shot) and a red then magenta wave of fighters before you are faced with a docking of the first stage with the second for bonus points. The bonus is based on the time taken to dock as the top craft slowly descends, wavering about and guided by the left/right control and fire to thrust.

This bonus sequence is then followed by five waves of dancing aliens which include diagonally opposed asteroids and white blobs that turn wrap around missiles if not destroyed in time. Depending on how well you are doing you can earn the right to fight with either two or three stages together as the speed of the aliens hots up. The full display area is used with score lines superimposed at the top.

COMMENTS

Control keys: user definable, three needed
Joystick: hardly needed, but almost any via UDK
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: excellent
Graphics: extremely fast smooth and detailed
Sound: smashing
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 3
Screens: nine attack waves plus docking sequence

This is a very, very close copy of the original, right down to the scrolling stars and the between-waves tune, and I'm pleased to say that it has also caught the exciting atmosphere of the original too. Really one of the best shoot em ups for an age. The level of difficulty and skill required is well pitched to make it one of those games you are just bound to come back to again and find hard to leave when you are playing it. Docking is not at all easy - I was fooled by first watching someone who had learned the knack and could do it almost every time. Fast reflexes and a strong right hand are needed to get those hi-scores on Moon Cresta. It's a pity that being an officially licenced version it's a pound or so more than it might have been, but nevertheless it's still well worth the hours of aching hands at the price.

It's been a long, long long while since someone has had the guts to try and copy a true arcade game onto the Spectrum. Moon Cresta is one of the best, or should I say the best arcade copy l have yet seen. Personally I love these type of games for two main reasons first being that they are not complicated to play, where you have to learn rule after rule; and second, especially on the higher levels, it's a great asset to have to have an uncanny amount of skill (or as Roger Kean puts it - 'luck'). Getting down to the nitty gritty of the game and why l think it is brill, is that the graphics are very clear, precise and accurate to the original. They are fast and very smooth and an incredible amount of colour has gone into this game. Stars constantly scroll in the background, twinkling as they change colour. This game really puts you in the spot of the great Space War. Sound is also a prime achievement, faithfully reproduced from the original in all aspects, very punchy. This is one type of game that I never tire of except for my rapid-fire finger which wears out long before the enthusiasm. As you must be able to tell, I found Moon Cresta a tremendously addictive game.

The attack waves in Moon Cresta might superficially be thought of as being similar to an old 'Galaxian' type of game, but they are much more sophisticated in their movements in fact, and well aided by the amazing graphics which are super-fast and completely flicker-free. The speed of the aliens, in fact, is astonishing on the higher levels, and turns your humble Spectrum into something that looks like a dedicated games machine. Playing Moon Cresta is very simple fun, the sort of soothing mindlessness that concentrates thought wonderfully! And concentration is needed! At a time when the emphasis tends to be on complicated arcade/adventures or third generation platform games, I think it's brave of Incentive to release an old fashioned shoot em up like this, and I'm thankful that they have.

Dave: Mooncresta is an officially licenced copy of the same name arcade game, and as you'd expect, it includes all the main features of the original. If you've never seen it (which pubs did you misspend your youth in? - Ed), the basic idea is just for a change, to zap aliens. There are four types and each of them appears for two screens in succession. Your ship is made up of three parts, the first of which is given to you gratis, but you've got to earn the rest. You get the next part by clearing four sheets, after which you have to carry out a successful docking manoeuvre. Two more sheets - watch out for the nasty surprise - then a repeat performance of the docking procedure. If, or should I say, when you get killed you'll lose one part of your ship.

Incentive has done a reasonable job translating Mooncresta to the Spectrum but it's a bit long in the tooth now. So, unless you're an arcade freak who likes scoring millions it won't have much lasting appeal. Still, if you are an arcade freak, you'll be itching to have a crack at Incentive's Mooncresta competition - the booty is a real arcade machine of the game. 2/5 HIT

Ross: It's taken aeons for this old arcade classic to appear on the home computer market. It plays fairly close to the original and kept me amused for an hour or two, or three. 3/5 HIT

Roger: It advertises a ' Trip To The Space War' but give me a trip to Margate than yet another trip back down memory lane. 2/5 MISS

Publisher: Incentive
Price: £6.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston

Good shoot 'em up games are difficult to find these days, mainly because most companies have booted their aliens into orbit.

Incentive, however, has only just made it back from the Mountains of Ket, and do not know about such things. The company has just brought out a passable version of Moon Cresta.

The game is a clone of the original arcade machine hit from Nichibutsu.

The pace and plot can be described in a few sentences, consisting mainly of two-syllable words. Take your three-stage rocket into space. Blast as many types of alien as you can. Once a phase is over, grab a bonus by docking one section of your ship with another.

For those who still do not know Moon Cresta, after that brief description, it is a space invaders game where the invaders are fast but dumb. They do not fire back when you loose your laser bolts on them.

Once the first stage of your ship has been destroyed the second allows you the use of two blasters instead of one. They are both needed as there is no auto-repeat and firing at aliens is a real chore, except for those who are insensitive to pain. The same is true of the joystick fire button - and we thought joysticks made it easier.

The incentive of a video cassette recorder as a prize, if you are the first person to top the 30,000 point barrier, may enamour you to the game. If you are an arcade addict your furtive fingers will waltz to the prize. As a beginner you may also throw caution and your keyboard to the wind.

If, however, you already own a video recorder, or fear for the health of your joystick, then give the aliens a rest and go out and kill a few Hobbits for a change.

PRICE: £7.95
GAME TYPE: Arcade

Nowadays it is not often you come across aliens and spaceships in a computer game. Moon Cresta, the official Spectrum version of the arcade game takes us back to the good old days of computer programming. Trouble is, so near to the time, they still look like the bad old days and alien zapping is not calculated to raise feelings of nostalgia.

Your space ship moves from left to right at the bottom of the screen. Aliens move in all directions on a wrapround screen, which allows them to corner you, or suddenly emerge Jaws-like, from below.

Aliens come in a variety of different colours and different sizes but not in very large attack waves, and they do not shoot you they only kill on contact. Attack waves come in cycles, and there is not a wide range of alien types.

The main difficulty with the game is the lack of continuous fire option. Every time you wish to shoot you must press the fire button, whether you are using joystick or keyboard. Aliens which would not defeat you through strategy or speed, finally win through as your index finger gives way.

There are faster shoot 'em ups on the market, there are more graphically attractive shoot 'em ups on the market, there are better shoot 'em ups on the market. Moon Cresta is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Incentive Software, 54 London Street, Reading.

ZX Spectrum
£6.95
Shoot 'em-up
Incentive

The Nichibitsu arcade classic, with an opportunity to win your own dedicated Moon Cresta machine. You blast away and score bonus points by docking successfully with the mother ship.

£6.95
Incentive Software

WOW!

This was one of my favourite arcade games and I thought when I saw the adverts "Oh yes, another inferior, highly hyped copy", but boy was I wrong!

This has all the challenge and features of the original, if you want to try it out just go to your nearest arcade and put 20p in the machine of the same name. Even the music/sounds are the same. You are traveling in a three-stage rocket when the evil aliens materialise in the centre of the screen and attack in a swirling pattern. Hit them and they split into two, hit them again and they die, destroy them all and another wave appears. After five waves the second stage of your rocket appears, and if you successfully dock with it you continue with twice the firepower (you'll need it!).

In the next section the aliens materialise, nip backwards and forwards before finally making kamikaze dives on you. The play levels are perfect, you can achieve reasonable success in the first few attempts and this will encourage you to try for a higher position in the high score chart. You just KNOW you'll do better next time. As a pure zap 'em all space game it is one of the best, a must for arcade enthusiasts.

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?