Whether you're still looking for last-minute presents or someone's cheque is burning a hole in your pocket, you're bound to find something to light your candle in the Christmas season's spate of compilations.

They come from software houses large and small, specialised and general; they range from £4.99 to £14.95; they come in all shapes and sizes, from boxes a foot long to laminated video-size boxes down to the (now) ordinary double-cassette boxes (for which we still have no racks!). You may not have anywhere to put all these different sizes, but they sure look pretty on the retailer's shelf.

But some small independent retailers have great problems with the big, bold packaging of compilations, and when space is tight they usually end up at the bottom of the pile.

And some compilations aren't even available in independent shops this Christmas - not because of the packaging, but because they're distributed on limited exclusive deals with high-street multiples. For instance, Gremlin Graphics's Ten Great Games is currently only available from chains like WH Smith and Menzies. It's strange the indies are treated this way when they account for 75% of all software sales...

Ocean's compilations always provide value for money. In October Game Set And Match sent Spectrum sportsmen crazy, in November the shoot-'em-up collection Live Ammo arrived and now Ocean looks set to have a happy Christmas and a VERY prosperous New Year with the final 1987 release, The Magnificent 7. And guess how many games are on it... eight!

If you thought Ocean's previous compilations were hot stuff, wait till The Magnificent 7 melts the snow with Ocean's greatest hits - like the mind-blowing Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Head Over Heels, arcade adventures such as The Great Escape and Short Circuit, leaders in their class like the mindless Cobra, and bat and ball with Arkanoid.

And the most interesting addition is Wizball. Reviewed in CRASH issue 45 just a few months ago, it gained a Smashing 92%, and here it is already on an action-packed compilation.

Ocean is backing the +3 with a disk version of The Magnificent 7.

THE MAGNIFICENT 7
Ocean
Head Over Heels - 97% Issue 39
Cobra - 93% Issue 35
Short Circuit - 71% Issue 40
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - 94% Issue 19
Arkanoid - 59% Issue 39
Wizball - 92% Issue 42
The Great Escape - 96% Issue 35
Yie Ar Kung Fu - 92% Issue 25
cassette £9.95
+3 disk £17.95

Amstrad, £9.95cs, £14.95dk
C64/128, £9.95cs, £14.95dk
Spectrum, £9.95cs

Not seven, but eight games in this action collection. Which one's the 'free' game? Answers please, on a postcard...

Head Over Heels

Jon Ritman provided the world with Batman and then went on to force even more convoluted conundrums onto the isometric world of arcade adventuring with this tale of two alien secret agents teaming up to destroy the forces of evil. Nothing terribly remarkable or new in terms of the presentation or style, but what a load of game it packs! Witty sound and graphics combine with the fiendish puzzles to capture the attention of the most avid arcade adventurer.

Arkanoid

Another Breakout variant (see Ten Great Games above), this one gives you 33 flames of brick-bashing ball-batting action. One of the best examples of the genre...

Wiz Ball

A first rate game on the Commodore from a new programming partnership that lost out somewhat in the transfer to the Z80. A zany arcade adventure that casts the player the role of planetary decorator - aliens have stolen all the colour from Wizworld, rendering it a drab place and it is the task of the Wizard, aided by his magic ball and pussycat, to collect and mix pigment and thus bring colour back to the world. A charming, offbeat scenario is enhanced by the way the wiz has to interact with his cat to get the task done.

Short Circuit

A film be-in that consists of an 3D arcade adventure section followed by a chase and shoot sequence over a scrolling landscape. The cute robot. Number Five, has to find security keys in order to escape from a factory/office complex, preferably with some weaponry, and then avoid his makers as they pursue him cross country. Great fun on the Amstrad, a little flat on the Spectrum and less fun still on the Commodore. Strange how widely the three versions differ in appeal.

Cobra

Another Stallone-clone be-in the battle action is against street thugs, a damsel is in distress, the backdrop scrolls horizontally and is peppered with platforms. Green Beret in a different guise - and three different incarnations, almost. The well-playable Spectrum version is full of humour and added touches, while the Amstrad version is a little too easy and the Commodore Cobra more of a slow-worm than a snake.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood

A true classic that brought a new dimension to both tie-ins and arcade adventures. Denton Designs excelled themselves - not a Frankie to be seen anywhere in the game. Instead, the central character wanders round a terrace of ordinary suburban houses, searching for objects by touch and using them to enter sub-games. Love, sex, war and religion factors have to be increased until they reach maximum whereupon the player becomes a whole person. Only then can you contemplate entering the pleasure dome. A very unusual playing style, involving a running sutb-game in which you have to solve a murder... An essential part of anyone's software collection, if only because it's so different.

Yie Ar Kung Fu

Imagine version of this Konami coin-op hit went down better than Way of the Exploding Fist in some quarters. Eight opponents range themselves against the humble Oolong, defender of right and justice, bringing into play their own personal weapons and fighting styles. Kick and punch your way past the opposition to fame and glory - if you can Great fun for fight freaks.