Ok, sport lovers, this one's for you. A whole string of sporty stuff for you to master without having to waste loadsa energy getting all yukky and sweaty running round muddy fields. Nick Roberts slips into his sexy shorts (?!) to check out the action...

Domark
£14.99

This was billed as the big Domark compilation for the summer. It's a bit late, but never mind. Stick sand between your toes, a spotlight on your face and get someone to bring you long cool drinks with umbrellas in them and pretend it's summer while you play!

The pack includes four sporty games covering all the favourites. There's Gazza's Super Soccer, complete with hanky for when the tears begin to flow , World Class Leaderboard for the golfing enthusiasts, Pro Tennis Tour with lots of strawberries and cream and Continental Circus for the motoring fans.

RAINY RACE

My favourite is definitely Continental Circus, This is still one of the best car racing games I've seen on the Speccy. You race through some of the toughest tracks around, with skilful gear changes and acceleration needed to survive. You have to watch the opposition and keep an eye on the weather, as it actually rains in this! Check it out for one of the best tyre scorchers on your computer.

If oil and burning rubber isn't your cup of tea (it wouldn't taste very nice would it?), perhaps you'd prefer the courts of Wimbledon with Pro Tennis Tour. You're going to need all your skills to beat top seeded players and get though to the big final. Unlike many tennis gamest the graphics in this are large and detailed.

World Class Leaderboard is for the checked trouser brigade and is on hell of a golfing simulation. You can play some of the courses that have challenged golf's greatest players, complete with the correct distances, traps and hazards. The only thing missing is the drink at the golf club bar afterwards!

GAZZAMANIA!

Last, but by no means least, here comes Gazza! He gets everywhere, doesn't he? His Super Soccer game allows the player to customise the leagues and details. You can either play against the computer or a friend.

A mixed bag of sport games, with only one of them particularly outstanding, but for avid sports fans Grandstand provides value for money, if you haven't got the games already.

NICK [60%]

Here's a sports pack from Domark which, erm, doesn't actually feature any originally Domark-related product! Not that it matters, because get two of the sporting greats of the Speccy: Continental Circus and World Class Leaderboard. The first is a smashing racer taken from the coin-op with all the best features (including the playability) retained: just really fun to play! Any game from the Leaderboard series is great, and World Class tops the lot (but it does seem to feature on a lot of compilation packs). The other two are OK, though Gazaa does let the side down a bit. Relatively bargain-like.
RICHARD [61%]

REPLAY

Most of JON PILLAR's friends are old speccy games. No one else really understands him...

Domark
£14.99
Reviewer: Jon Pillar

Don't panic - Domark haven't written a Desmond Lynam Simulator (well, not yet anyway). Grandstand is actually a compilation of four sporty games in which you can take on the professionals. Lucrative sponsorship deals ahoy!

GAZZA SUPER SOCCER

It's that man again! A straightforward (ie non-management) soccer game that has you kicking around with the usual mix of Speccy and Spec-chum teams, in league and cup competitions. The horizontal pitch doesn't scroll - when you reach the end of the screen it flips perspective to a 3D view of the goalmouth. This is a gimmick we could have done without - it plays hell with the flow of the action and causes the players to obscure the ball. Overall, a bit of a mess, which is a pity, but there you are.

CONTINENTAL CIRCUS

Panic pedestrians by swerving all over the main roads of famous cities int this unexceptional arcade driver. With smooth but ugly graphics thimbleful of new features and too-tricky gameplay, it's a race game with no difference.

WORLD CLASS LEADERBOARD

Leaderboard was the golf sim that changed the world (or at least the bits of it that wanted to play gold on a computer). WCL is of course the, um, world-class version of the original. Challenge up to four pals (of go it alone) over four courses of 18 holes, all presented in cheerful (though slowly-drawn) 3D. While your hands aren't likely to leap off your wrists with excitement, it's very playable, quite a bit addictive and certainly more fun than the real thing. (There's no Jimmy Tarbuck for a start.)

PRO TENNIS TOUR

Large 3D sprites (and some hilariously bad animation) enliven this racquet-smashingly tough game. Similar to Passing Shot in that the emphasis is on fast, whack-the-ball fun. I'd say this one has the edge with its oodles of options - practice games, skill levels etc. You won't get very far against the Speccy, but rope in a pal for a stonkingly entertaining time.

Well, it's not crap, but with two pretty dire games Grandstand is wobbling perilously close to the 50° mark. Fling your pennies elsewhere. (Preferably in my direction!)

Label: Domark
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £14.99 Tape, N/A Disk
Reviewer: Steve Keen

Grandstand is billed as being the ultimate sports compilation - a bit like Daley Thompson in fact. So, the games should be amongst the best that money can buy.

Sadly, as we all know Spec chums, the smooth always comes with at least a little rough and I'm sorry to say Grandstand has more than it's fair share of the stubble.

The compilation consists of four games; Continental Circus, World Class Leader Board, Gazza's Super Soccer and the very nice looking Pro Tennis Tour. The less said about Gazza'a Super Soccer the better. The tiny slow sprites, completely unsealed pitch and diabolical control make this a complete dog of the first order.

Moving on quickly to the formula one racing game Continental Circus. Converted from the coin op and set over eight different race tracks around the world, this fast scrolling race game suffers slightly due to the difficulty in controlling your machine. However, the racing is realistic enough and some nice touches, like your engine billowing with smoke and turning into fire after a crash if you keep racing with it unattended and the little men that run onto the track to overhaul the car when in the pits.

Third on my list working towards the top is Pro Tennis Tour which is by far the best tennis game I've seen on the Spectrum. Consisting of large, well animated sprites and a host of different court and tournaments it was great fun, however, yet again, severely let down by it's difficulty in use as you have to be almost pixel perfect to return a ball. I didn't win a single game let alone set, but I took a few off Garth in two player mode. If you want to see the games potential take a look at the built-in demo.

Lastly, (but not least-ly), World Class Leaderboard proved to be the pick of the crop. A first rate golfing sim that combines colourful (green!) screens with accurate golfing realism. A little annoying that you have to load each hole in at a time, but it only takes a couple of seconds.

Overall, a varied and entertaining compilation but there's something rather wrong with the price isn't there? Budget games on their own cost 3.99 and so by buying these four you actually save only 93p and are stuck with them all. And for the sake of 93p I think I'd rather just buy the ones I want singularly instead of tying up 15 quid with Domark.

GARTH:
Continental Circus is a great game as is Leaderboard and Pro Tennis but I wouldn't pay out the money for the dire Gazza Super Soccer.