Producer: System 3 Software
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code

The Encyclopaedia Galactica (AD 4020 edition of course) is almost as oft-quoted a tome of learning as is its primitve forebear the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The inlay of this new game from a company new to the Spectrum has a long quote from Galactica which, in the time-honoured tradition of cassette inlays, has suitably little to do with playing the game itself. What it does tell you is that the Death Star is approaching and threatening Earth and only one hope is left. You guessed it, sucker, that's you, tucked safely inside Star Fighter One. No one needs to be told what a Death Star is in detail; it's a big, round metal moon with a deep and heavily defended equatorial trench, and a single weakness, the central core vent down which an accurately placed photon missile will be able to reach the core and blow up the Death Star.

Death Star Interceptor kicks off with a very good rendition of the 'Star Wars' theme (the game is officially licenced) as your fighter waits at the base of the screen to be launched into space. There are three playing screens, the first is really an effect rather than a difficult game sequence. When the music finishes the computer says, 'Prepare for launching!' quite without the aid of a Currah Microspeech unit. You must then take off and fly the fighter through the dead centre of a series of concentric rings representing entry into hyperspace.

The second screen is set in space. Earth is seen receding on the right, leaving your fighter alone with the stars - but not for Iong. Some of the stars look as though they're moving, and getting bigger - and they are. Several fighters and other types zoom towards you, weaving and spinning as they come into the attack. You are so busy dodging their lethal blasts and blowing them to smithereens that at first you fail to notice another star getting brighter. Suddenly the point of light grows and grows until you realise it the dread Death Star itself. If you survive this screen until approach to the Death Star is concluded, you will dive down on the metal moon and into the equatorial trench.

Screen three is a 3D birds' eye perspective view of the trench which scrolls towards you. Your fighter can move left or right as well as up and down. The sides of the trench are dotted with laser cannon, the base with fuel dumps. More tie fighters come screaming up the trench at you, and later there are laser beams ranging across its width which you must fly under or over. If you survive this section for long enough, there will be a chance to drop a photon torpedo down the rapidly approaching vent. Success will see you fly up put of the trench, and turning round, you will see the receding Death Star disintegrate in a massive explosion. But don't worry - with one down, there are many more to come with tougher defences!

COMMENTS

Control keys: A/Q up/down (aircraft type) O/P left/right and CAPS to V to fire. These are preset, but board user-definable
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, Cursor type
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: a bit limited on the trench screen, but excellent everywhere else
Graphics: amazing, fast, smooth 3D and with good explosion effects
Sound: excellent tune, spot effects
Skill levels: 3 - space cadet to commander
Lives: 3 plus shields - loss of shield with each 5 hits and there are 5 shields (you'll need em)
Screens: 3
Special features: unaided speech at start

I saw this game some time ago on the CBM 64 (by the same company) and there isn't the slightest doubt that the Spectrum version is far superior (nothing to do with petty inter-computer jealousies either). The 'Star Wars' theme at the start is excellently done and the speech bit isn't bad either. The first screen is simple enough not to become too serious an irritation between games. The second screen is pretty amazing, a real fast shoot em up with astonishingly smooth 3D graphics that really do come rushing at you. The perspective effect and sense of depth has to be seen to be believed. In the trench the colours are perhaps less effective, but the saving grace is the speed and clarity of the scrolling. Death Star Interceptor (along with Incentive's Moon Cresta) mark a new era of sophisticated shoot em ups. Great stuff!

Death Star must be one of the fastest solid 3D shoot em up games yet available for the Spectrum. Once loaded, you are greeted with a glorious 'Star Wars' theme music - try amplifying it, it's worth it. 'Prepare for launching!' as I shot through the time gate, the computer shouted. The 3D aspect of this game is truly amazing - tiny dots rapidly grow from a distance to become Tie fighters and other recognisable shapes. The speed at which this happens is breathtaking and incredibly smooth. What's more the animation isn't (as usual) just in one plane, but they twist from side to side as they weave across the screen towards you, showing the various different angles of their metallic make up. Moving into the trench all the usual defences are plastered on the sides, which constantly impede your progress. Tie fighters zip towards you and laser barriers cause you to duck. The inlay states that the game is graphically amazing and all too often this turns out to be untrue but in this case it is an understatement. The second screen sets a new state-of-the-art standard for 3D shoot em ups. Again, I think the second screen is the most playable and enjoyable, although very difficult to get through to progress into the trench. The third screen is also extremely difficult although I didn't find it half as much fun as the previous one - still enjoyable though. Death Star is a game that will set new standards for 3D space shoot em ups. Terrific fun.

Speed, excitement, tough gameplay and good graphics are the all-important elements of a shoot em up. Death Star has the lot. In the second screen the tactics of the enemy fighters gives the game an impetus rarely seen before. There are three different tactics in play. Some fighters (they all weave about like crazy) come from the distance at you, others spring off the sides of the screen unexpectedly, careering round to attack, while others actually leave the screen and then come rushing back on from 'behind' you. All the while, they are twisting and turning realistically. We have had extreme speed with Dark Star but little game - a good game with Starstrike but line graphics - now we have Death Star Interceptor with speed, great graphics and a playable game. This game will probably leave the 3D shoot em ups way behind until someone else comes up with a better game. The only boring part I found about this game was the first screen. Jumping into hyperspace became quite tiresome and irritating at the beginning of each new game, but then again, you have to start from somewhere. Overall, one of the best space shoot em up games in 3D ever.

Ross: Yep, you guessed - it's a Star Wars rip-off with solid colour graphics. It's even got the Star Wars theme tune. I won't tire you with the tale that accompanies the game - it's the usual old tosh about the Death Star approaching Earth in order to destroy it. You must launch your Starfighter with the aim of confronting the enemy.

The game's split into three stages, the first launching sequence requires little skill and less strategy and soon becomes very boring. The snippet of software speech saying 'prepare to launch' sounds like the speaker had a nasty dose of flu when it was recorded. The second stage, out in space, shows your fighter desperately trying to avoid destruction from the barrage of enemy fighters constantly bearing down on you. Rather than battle it out with them it's best to avoid the bulk of them and shoot only those you can't avoid. Quite a doddle as there's a 'dead zone' where you can sit it out in safety.

The final stage in the trench is not pulse-quickening either, and the final explosion's just a flash in the border. So much for saving civilization. I'd heard good reports of this game but it's arrived with a whimper, not a bang. 2/5 MISS

Roger: Three stages of Star-Yawns didn't keep me awake long enough, despite tolerable speed and shootiebang quotient. 1/5 MISS

Dave: Zap Ping Whoosh Yawn! another fast, almost 3D shoot 'em up with reasonable graphics, the usual storyline and a boredom factor of 10! 1/5 MISS

Publisher: System 3 Software
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor

There must be a better reason for being in the computing business than Death Star Interceptor. The addition of a strangled rasp of a voice in the take-off sequence and the splitting of a standard, wholly derivative shoot-em-up into three sections does not alter the fact that blasting alien spacecraft along the corridors of the giant space station is boring, boring, boring.

System 3 Software also bought the right to use the Star Wars theme on the game, where the thin story-line originated.

First you have to take off. When you hear the Spectrum talking to you the spacecraft is launched and you have to guide it through a small window into outer space.

You get to see a picture of the earth receding and the death star approaching during the next section, but that is a mere visual bonus. The second stage is simply a matter of blasting or avoiding alien craft, which behave like stunted refugees from Galaxians. Once at the death star you get the time-honoured death-or-glory Luke 'make mine a milk shake' Skywalker run down the deadly corridor to plant a bomb in the exhaust port.

If you make it that far, why not toss the cassette in as well?

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: System 3
PRICE: £7.95

Star Wars was a move that spawned a hundred games - and the latest is Death Star Interceptor from System 3. The game, originally written for the CBM 64, features nice 3D style graphics, and a new gimmick not found the original - speech!

The sounds were provided by the same programmer who created the effects for Activision's Spectrum Ghostbusters game - and pretty good they are too!

Listen to a terrific rendition of the Star Wars theme, then your Spectrum shouts "Prepare to Launch!"" and you are off on a mission to destroy the Death Star.

Tie Fighters streak toward your craft with characteristic "scream" sound direct from the movie as you attempt to blast them. Meanwhile the Death Star is getting nearer and nearer.

Soon you find yourself in the trench with laser barriers and yet more Tie Fighters coming at you. Time to take a tight grip on your joystick! Zap along the trench, place a well aimed shot into the reactor shaft and then you can breath easily again.

One criticism is that System 3 have retained the fiddly launch sequence. You must position yourself correctly to squeeze through a "star-gate" which can get irritating when you want to get straight back to the action.

The Tie-fighters are animated and drawn very well - you get a "3D" side view of the attacking craft as they turn away from your star-fighter after an attack run.

The approaching Death Star looks good too! Death Star Interceptor is an all-action shoot-out with some nice new features - like the neat sound effects. If you like all-out action games then you'll love it!

System 3 Software
£7.95

Some of the more game orientated 'zines have been raving about this, but I can't really see what all the fuss is about I'm afraid. Death Star Interceptor is a very competent piece of programming, but apart from the third screen it's really just space invaders with souped-up graphics.

The first screen is a bit of a bore. You have to launch your ship from a runway and steer it through some sort of portal. The whole thing lasts about five seconds and seems fairly hit or miss, as the ship rather overreacts to its controls. The launch is announced by some good speech synthesis, better than in Ghostbusters I think, but listening to this doesn't make the screen any more interesting to play.

The second screen is the Space Invaders Bit. The graphics are excellent, no doubt about it. The attacking ships start off as points moving against the starry background and growing and taking on shape as they zoom in on you, but you are still just stuck moving your ship left and right (with a small room for up and down movement) at the bottom of the screen, space invaders style.

The third screen is far and away the best. The action for once matches the graphics as you zoom along the trench searching for the Death Star's weak spot. The perspective graphics are excellent and the chase through the trench gets pretty frantic.

If you're looking for a shoot 'em up, them I suppose that this or Incentive's Moon Cresta are the zap games of the moment, but I'm afraid that for me the trench sequence on this just didn't make up for the other screens that you have to go through first.

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?