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!

Ubi Soft
£14.99/£22.99

Take up the challenge from Ubi Soft and add six fab games to your software collection with the Challengers compilation. For your hard earned dosh you get P47 Thunderbolt Fighter Bomber, Pro Tennis Tour, Rick Dangerous, Carrier Command and Kick Off. A little something for all tastes!

The two games that really stand out have to be Rick Dangerous and Carrier Command. The man with the hat's first adventure was a smash hit the first time it was reviewed, earning 81%. The cartoon style graphics and sound effects were an instant hit with everyone in the CRASH offices and I couldn't rest until I'd completed the game.

Carrier Command is aimed more at the serious games player. You take control of a futuristic aircraft carrier and all the problems that come with it. The mixture of excellent 3D graphics, strategy and shoot-'em-up action will have you playing this game for a long time to come.

Two types of flight simulation are also in the pack. P47 is an arcade shoot- 'em-up game. The backgrounds scroll horizontally by as you blast the enemy out of the sky. Fighter Bomber puts you into the cockpit of a real plane and lets you take on a battle from the pilots viewpoint in total 30.

Sports fans won't be disappointed with Challengers, either. There's Pro Tennis Tour and Kick Off to keep them busy. Kick Off is, of course, the football game that caused a storm on the 16-bit machines. Unfortunately the conversion to 8-bit wasn't so successful. Pro Tennis is an average simulation of that well known sport (pity there are no strawberries and cream').

Challengers is excellent value for money on cassette. But with the disk version costing a staggering £22.99 I would be inclined to stick to cassette. (Erm, Nick, dividing the overall percentage by six games is a bit odd here, isn't it? - Ed) Erm, yeah...

Rick Dangerous: 15/16.66
P47 Thunderbolt: 14/16.66
Carrier Command: 15/16.66
Kick Off: 10/16.66
Pro Tennis Tour: 12/16.66
Fighter Bomber: 13/16.66