Krisalis
£9.99/£15.99
128K Only

Anyone who's played squash knows that it's one of the most dangerous sports in the world. The small, very hard ball hits the racquet (and invariably you) with the speed of a ricocheting bullet. But now you can participate in a one- or two-player game in the comfort of your own armchair with Jahangir Khan's World Championship Squash!

The game begins with a series of menu screens. Choices available include ball colour (blue, yellow or red for different standards of play), saving and loading games, practising and competing in either League or World Championship games.

The rules of the game are quits simple: the court is rectangular and divided into two halves, one for each player. There's a square shaped service box at the front of each half, from which the serving player whacks the ball against the opposite wall. This is marked about halfway up with a line called the Cut; to serve a successful shot the ball must hit the wall above the Cut and fall squarely in the opponents half of the court. (Confused? I am.) The opponent, on the other hand, can let the ball hit any of the walls (and risk decapitation), but it can only hit the floor once.

Points are scored if your opponent fails to hit the speeding projectile. If the ball doesn't fall in your opponent's part of the court, they score (simple, eh?).

The game makes allowances for beginners with an option that gives normal or easy control - in normal, your joystick movements as you hit the ball determine its direction, whereas in easy all you do is hit fire, and the Speccy decides in what direction and with how much power the hall is returned.

Apart from Jonah Barrington's Squash, I haven't seen a Speccy squash simulation. Depending on the colour chosen (blue is bounciest), the ball spangs; off the walls at suicidal speeds, and it takes many a game to be in the right place at the right time to hit the little thing. Character movement is sadly on the slow side but all is not gloom and oom - once mastered, Jahangir Khan's World Squash is a playable game.

MARK [70%]

Squash has never been a popular game for computer conversion, unlike tennis or football. So it's a novelty when a game like this comes along. The characters that represent each player are small but the game is detailed, with crowd scenes and excellent presentation, including some impressive full colour screens. Timing your swipes so that you actually hit the ball takes some practice but after a little while you can soon be banging away and beating the pants off your opponent. Jahangir Khan World Championship Squash makes a refreshing change from going down the courts and sweating buckets in a real game.
NICK [73%]

Krisalis
£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk (128K only)
Reviewer: James Leach

So just who is this Jahangir Khan chappie then? Reckons he's a squash player does he? Well, I'll show him a thing or 2! (He's World Champion actually. Ed.) Oh. Er, perhaps I'll just have a quick G and T at the members bar instead then. (Ahem.)

Anyway, just to recap, back in 1984 there was a game called Jonah Barrington's Squash. It was by a company called NewGen, it was pretty spookalicious, and it boasted some rather nice 3D views of the 'on-court action'. Well, now Krisalis have obviously decided that a follow-up's well overdue. and JK's World Championship Squash is what they've come up with.

The whole program is icon-run, ideal for a joystick. There are 32 players (2 of whom can be 'human', so that may as well be you and a pal). and they're all organised into leagues with 8 in each. Everybody plays each other, and each of the 4 winners then go into a big championship-type knock-out thing (which can also be treated as a completely separate section of the game and played on it's own if you want). Right, let's slip on our Nike's and take a trot out onto the court.

ON THE 'EAD, JAHANGIR!

For those of you who haven't a clue, squash is played out between 2 adversaries in a big white room, the idea being to bounce your ball off all the walls and pant rather a lot. And the same principle applies here. The court is laid out in 3D (just like old Jonah B) and in it you must slide your little man around, batting violently at thin air until, by luck, your racquet collides with the ball and you send it whizzing off into a corner as far away from your opponent as possible. Simple, eh?

Well, not really. The first thing you notice is how your chap seems to be run incredibly slowly across the court. But don't worry - this is just like the real thing! Because the ball whizzes around like an angry wasp inside a tank you need to be pretty sussed about where it's going to go if you ever want to get there. Never mind all your power shots, soft taps and left and right spinning slices (which are all Speccy-performable here) - the trick is to get back to the centre of the court each time so you can reach whichever corner the ball gets wacked into.

That or you could try a new ball of course. Again like in the real game, you've got a choice of 5 types. Hardies go faster (but stay in the air longer, so they're supposed to be the easiest) while softies just flop down onto the floor after one little bounce.

Either way I soon discovered I was completely crap so I decided to watch the other matches in the League Competition and Championship to see how the pros played. Some consolation, This was even more depressing because a) the computer players were very good and b) they took an inordinate length of time to play their games, and had brilliant rallies that you could never hope to achieve. (I then found another excellent way of avoiding playing a game which involved messing around with all the options like the players'statistics, skill levels, league tables, people's names and so on, but then suddenly realised I had a court booked in 10 minutes and had to go back to playing it properly.)

THE SCORES ON THE DOORS!

Well, there's no doubt that this is a very accomplished game. The graphics are clear and zippy and the gameplay's as smooth as a Cadbury's Wispa (ie very, very smooth indeed). But where it stopped short for me was my basic interest in squash. It's not that I've got anything against squash, just that I'm not terribly interested in it - and you really need to be to keep plugging away at Jahangir Khan for hour after hour. The computer opponents are just too hard and it all tends to get slightly repetitive, 2-player mode is more fun (rallies don't last too long - usually about 3 hits - but at least you don't have to put up with being humiliated by your Speccy all the time) but its'still pretty tricky to get the hang of it all.

Not that I'm knocking it to death! When all's said and done it's an extremely good representation of the game and if you'll into this kind of thing you'll probably end up playing like Mr Jahangir himself (and having a really good gas in the bargain). It'll just take years of time and energy, that's all!

Label: Krisalis
Memory: 128K only
Price: £11.23 Tape, £15.31 Disk
Reviewer: Steve Keen

When a company produces a sports game, they usually try to get a top athlete to put their name to it. Krisalis only had one choice as Jonah Barrington put his name to New Generation's squash game a few years ago as Britain's top player. So, they were left with a choice of one. Jahanghir Khan is the best damn squash player on the planet. And they've complimented Jahangir by producing the best darned squash game on the Spectrum.

Krisalis certainly haven't skimped on presentation with this; from the attractive intro screen to the excellent options menu - this is quality design. What's extra special is that the features available have not been sacrificed either. You can take on the computer's squash ladder opponents in one player mode or two players can knock up together (oo-er!). You can change a player's name, practice a match, change ball type (blue being the fastest down to yellow) change the number of games per set and you can even choose what language to use (That's English, Spanish or Italian - not normal, colourful and Bernard @*!!!ng Manning!)

Play is by joystick and it's perfectly simple - just run around the court and hit the ball - there's even the option to nave a second service. These rules are identical to those used in the real game. Players even walk across court to pick up the ball when it's their service.

The sprites work well, partlcularly when lobbing the match winning groin strainer to the back of the court and the sound is just what you'd expect if you bounced a rubber ball inside a small wooden box.

Playing against the computer, you start off at the bottom of a ladder and must work your way up by defeating each of the progressively more adept computer players. The ones at the bottom are fairly easy to overcome but towards the top, the computer players are cast iron, father-less blighters and much ball bashing, joystick crunching, finger-blistering skill is needed to make any headway with them at all.

All said and done it's well worth slogging it out with Jahangir and his mates. He is widely regarded as being the fittest man on the planet by his sporting chums who he runs ragged! So, if you make it all the way up the league to take on Jahangir, make sure you're stocked up with plenty of deodorant!

GARTH'S COMMENT:
Well I'll be a ruddy yuppie yet - I never knew that Squash was so much fun - great graphics, good gameplay and one of the most comprehensive and logical option screens that I've ever seen on a sports sim.

Krisalis
Spectrum/Amstrad £11.23, Amiga/ST £25.53

Jahangir Khan, world champion in the sport of squash six times, has lent to this, a simulation of the most exhausting of bail sports.

Squash offers the chance to play one or two players, or simply sit back and spectate. There are two types of play, the Club Tournament (league), or the World Championship (knockout). The former is organised as a series of up to 8 "rungs", with each rung containing four to six players. At the end of the league, the top two players are promoted, the bottom two relegated to the next rung down.

The World Championship is simply a case of defeating each opponent in order to make it to the Final and take the trophy?

ROBERT SWAN

Having played squash a few times (don't laugh!), I can tell you that there's one word to describe the sport - knackering! Anyway, Jahangir Khan's Squash is certainly an accurate simulation of the sport - you have to wrench the stick like crazy in order to get to the ball. In fact, the first few games may be quite off-putting, due to the amount of effort required just to hit the ball, but practice makes perfect, and with a few games under your belt, you'll soon be getting into the swing of things. The match itself is extremely competitive, and exciting in one or two player modes. The number of options available is very impressive, making it a game you can come back to for quite a while. If you're a fan of the sport, or just after something a little different, then you'd be well advised to have a peek.

PAUL GLANCEY

I've never actually played Squash, but after playing this game it's hardly surprising that it's an after-hours favourite of hard-dealing business man. It's extremely competitive and the speed of the game makes each match a frenzy of action. The control system takes some time to get used to, and I spent an inept few games running after the ball and swiping at it when I was in the wrong place. However, I quickly learned the skill of hitting the ball so that it bounces around, but never actually straight at, the opponent. As usual, playing against another person is preferable to the computer opponents, but having said that, the computer's players are pretty good and even though they vary in skill (they're modeled on professional players) even the weakest can give the novice a run for his money. An unusual but well-executed sports game.