The only way is up.

Producer: US Gold
How Steep: £8.99 cass, £12.99 disk
Author: Choice Software

Cold? Pah! You call a few snowflakes on New Year's Day bad weather? Well, crawl back into bed with your hot water bottle because you certainly won't like this...

Final Assault begins by asking you to pack your bags. Along with pitons and ropes you can choose to take a pizza (honest) and various other items. Once kitted out you can choose one of six routes, two of each difficulty level. Climbs consist of both ice and rock faces, as well as crossing dangerous glaciers.

Ice faces are climbed with pickaxes, using a simple combination of up, down and fire. Rock faces require far more skill as all the limbs are controlled individually: the player moves them in turn, trying to find the best holds. Four icons show whether each limb has a firm hold, a weak hold, or none at all.

Once on the glacier you simply walk along, poking at thin bits of ice to test them - it's very easy. In fact the only section where much skill is needed is on the rock face. Graphically, the climber and the mountains are adequately represented. Ultimately this is a mixture of sections which don't quite get into a complete game - a brave attempt at a sport inherently difficult to implement.

PHIL [45%]

THE ESSENTIALS
Joysticks: Cursor, Sinclair
Graphics: the climber is fairly well animated, but simple mountain slopes are dull
Sound: a catchy little title tune but only a few beeps during play
Options: definable keys. Choice of six routes to climb

Final Assault is certainly an appropriate name because your first game will doubtlessly be your last. It has no addictive qualities at all, due to monotonous gameplay and pathetic graphics. Admittedly there's an element of strategy in picking your stores, but mostly it's just sticking a pick into the ice and hauling yourself up.
NICK [31%]

Epyx
£8.99 cass/£12.99 disk
Reviewer: Jonathan Davies

Through clouds of swirling snow, a lone figure can just be made out clinging penlously to the side of a sheer face of ice. He looks around, wiping the frost off his NHS glasses with the sleeve of his yellow anorak. Resting his rucksack on a ledge, he glances at his watch (Dixons £4.95). Time is running out. He must reach the summit by nightfall...

Such is the frame of mind you need to be into have a crack at the newie from Epyx. Laser cannons, mystical orbs and ninjas will have to be forgotten, as Final Assault is a thinking man's game, although it might also appeal to the joystick-wagglers among us.

If you can remember Everest Ascent which came out years ago you'll be on the right lines. This is lots better of course, but the ideas are pretty similar. As you may have guessed, you're trying to get to the top of a mountain. I never really understood the point of this. It's not as if there's going to be much up there, apart from a few discarded cagoules and the odd Kendal Mint Cake wrapper. But that's what you've got to do.

Before you can set off there are the usual procedures to go through. Having decided that you want to climb the mountain, there's your route to be chosen. These range from easy to almost nauseatingly impossible, so naturally I plumped for the latter. Honest.

Then there are a few minor details to clear up - for a start your equipment needs to be sorted out. Do you really need to take three teddy bears and a hot water bottle, or would it be better to use some of the space for a set of golf clubs in case you find a suitable plateau to take a few practice shots on? Decisions, decisions. Luckily from now on the joystick takes over.

Obviously a full-time member of the Ministry Of Silly Walks, your climber sets out across the ice. Nothing difficult here. Just try not to fall down too many crevasses (you can test the ice if it looks a bit dodgy). This is also a good time to get all the bits and pieces out of your rucksack that you think you might need for the ascent.

Sooner or later you'll come across the first cliff, probably an icy one. If you know what carabiners, jummars and pitons are, you'll find this bit easy. If not, you'll still find it a bit of a doddle as all you need to do is push the joystick up, push it down and then press the fire button. This causes the climber to go through the motions of climbing, and you'll soon be at the top.

The other part's much more fun: rock climbing. Search around the cliff face for hand and foot holds. Tremble as you place your foot on a tenuous ledge. Scream as it gives way, and you feel yourself slip. Sigh with relief as your rope saves you from certain death. You remembered to pack the rope, didn't you? if not, the little bloke plummets to the ground and is dashed to pixels on the rocks beneath. Always gets a laugh.

If you survive all this (each route consists of a mixture of these three elements) you're 'treated' to the victory tune and, after a quick swig of cold coffee, it's time to think about getting down again (although you're mercifully spared actually having to do this).

As seems to be the rule with Speccy conversions of these American games, the graphics are a bit patchy. The occasional nice backdrop, but merely functional sprites. It's all in the gameplay and, while things may not look too impressive from a distance, it's very easy to become absorbed.

It won't keep you hooked for hours at a time, but in the months ahead, when you're bored of your Christmas pressies and just can't be bothered with exam revision and all that sort of stuff, you may well find yourself saying "Gosh! I know! I'll climb a mountain!"

Label: US Gold
Author: Choice Software
Price: £8.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Why would anyone want to create a mountain-climbing simulation? Because it's there, I suppose. With football, athletics, martial arts and watersports sims clogging the market up to the nostrils, mountain climbing is about the only subject which hasn't yet been tackled. Unfortunately, Final Assault fails to score for the same reason that there isn't much mountain-climbing on Match of the Day; it might be fun for the people who are doing the climbing, but it's flipping dull to watch.

Your adventure into the wonderful world of pitons takes place in the Alps. Before setting out for the real thing you can take a training route in which there are on-screen prompts to improve your climbing technique, your equipment is selected for you, and, best of all, you can't have a fatal fall.

For the real thing, your first task is to choose the number of climbs you want to take and select the routes from the mountain map. Next, you fill your rucksack with equipment. From the selection of icons you must choose climbing gear such as pitons, carabiners, ropes, ice pins, chocks, straps and jummars (JUMMARS?), the function of which are explained in the manual. You must also stock up with more familiar items such as food, warm clothing, can opener, first aid box and the like.

What you carry, and what you choose to discard, should depend on the type of route you will follow; lots of ice walls, lots of walking, lots of crevasses or whatever else; and on the weather (winter or summer).

Your equipment is packed and you set off followed by absolutely no sherpas. The idea is to test the ground ahead of you by poking it with your ice-axe; walk at a steady pace to cover ground without using too much energy; and leap over crevasses when you encounter them. This bit is merely dull. For stultifying tedium, watch what happens when you fall into a ravine. You have to climb out using an up/down/fire motion of the joystick to hack holes, raise your foot then lift yourself up a few feet. The monotony is only relieved by the business of strapping yourself to the cliff face, getting your pack open, and selecting food or warm clothing, in response to the prompts which tell you when you are in danger of slipping down the cliff face due to lack of energy, cold, hunger and so on.

If you get through the icewall, you'll find yourself on the rock face. Here you must move your hands and feet to safe holds, watching the flashing icons to the right to judge how safe it is to move on. Sometimes you'll have to move downwards to find a better handhold, or jump to one side to avoid a falling boulder. Mainly, though, it's boredom a-go-go as you crawl painfully up the rock face, until you finally reach the mountain top and are returned to base camp for a new mission.

Final Assault sounds more like an SAS-death-commandosuicide-megablast game and let's face it, it would have been a lot more fun if it was. It's a good climbing simulation with acceptable graphics, but it's as boring as hell.