David: Believe it or not, the idea behind this game is to eat as many apples as possible, so that you can build up enough fat to last out the Winter in hibernation. For those of you, like me, expecting a game based on Boy George, you're going to be disappointed!

The first (of three) screens shows the bear in an orchard, waiting with mouth agape for some apples to fall from the trees. It's not that difficult - the only thing that can hurt you is a magenta-coloured apple falling on your head and knocking you out for a few seconds. Then, after three types of apple have been consumed, you automatically move to the ski-piste (?) and have to manoeuvre Bear George to his cave while avoiding the skiers. Once at the mouth of the cave, the scene changes again and it's now your task to walk along the bottom of the cave without touching the spiders who've attached themselves to the ceiling to block your path. When you reach your bed, there's a couple of scconds rest for Winter (yawn) and it's back to the beginning again.

Although the animation and graphics are superb, and the sound well above average too, there's little addictivcncss to this at all - I found it far too easy. Nevertheless, this could be commercial success. 2/5 HIT

Ron: Bear George is a really odd game. I haven't quite got the hang of the storyline yet - I refuse to believe it's that simple - but the graphics and sound are above average. 3/5 HIT

Roger: The thought of a game in which you've to force-feed a bear with over-ripe apples in a two-minute binge before hibernation suggests a crafty call to the RSPCA. Overall, one of the most unrealistic games I've seen. 1/5 MISS

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Cheetahsoft
PRICE: £6.95

If you down to the woods today, you'd better gobble up a lot of apples. That's my advice if you decide to purchase Cheetahsoft's latest game - the Perils of Bear George.

The idea of the game is to stock up on food and then get George safely back his cave where he can hibernate.

Getting to the cave is no easy task as George has to dodge the poisonous apples, loony skiers and bear-eating spiders.

If you get to George's cave, he will fall into a deep sleep and the months will start to pass, represented by pages peeling off a calendar - month after month.

If you caught enough falling apples on screen one, George will survive the winter and wake up again in spring back in the woods where the cycle begins again.

I have to say that it is not that difficult to get George through the winter. After a bit of practice at apple catching, you should be able to catch enough food to see our hero through until the spring each and every time.

Perils of Bear George is one of the cutest games I have played for a long time. The animation is excellent and each screen has a nice jingle to accompany the action.

The children's song Teddy Bears Picnic accompanies screen one plus on screen three the music of in the Hall of the Mountain King.

Perils of Bear George is a great game to buy for your little sister or brother but its four screens are not really challenging enough for the seasoned Spectrum gamer.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Curs, Kemp, Sinc, Cheetah, R.A.T.
FROM: Cheetahsoft, £6.95

When I first heard the name of this game I did a double-take. I thought it was maybe going to be a game about the troubles of a pop star but it turns out to be far more run-of-the-mill.

You take the title role as a cute-looking red bear. It is autumn and you find yourself in a garishly-coloured forest. Apples are falling steadily from the trees and you must catch them to fatten George up, ready for hibernation.

It takes some degree of skill to do this as a squirrel is forever bombarding the poor bear with apples that stun him and reduce his energy level. While this is going on a jaunty version of 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' plays.

After a while (there is no actual time display) you move on to a superb drawing of some mountain slopes. Here George must avoid the occasional skier on the path to his caves.

The setting for the third screen is a cave in which spiders are bouncing from floor to ceiling - a nasty hazard. In the fourth you finally arrive at Home Sweet Home where George settles down to sleep. The calendar months tick by in a display in the right-hand corner and the energy he has collected is used up.

If at any time the energy meter falls to zero George loses one of his three lives. After a long sleep it's back to the woods and the sequence starts again.

Except in the second screen, where two diagonal directions are added, it is only possible to move George left and right. The fire button is used to accelerate. In general the graphics are good and colour used well. Considering the poor sound facilities on the Spectrum, the tunes are quite impressive.

But the game requires very little effort to complete and does not increase in difficulty.

I don't think many players will be able to bear George for long...

The idea is fine bu it's let down by poor control and a general lack of user-friendliness. For example, the squirrel just stuns you, and the skier stuns you but the spiders kill you instantly. Cheetahsoft seem to look on this as a 'feature' but as far as I'm concerned it's just plain annoying.

ROB PATRICK

Well, Bear George does have some quite pretty graphics. Yes, the sound is reasonable and there are some nice touches. But the game is unplayable!

It took me many hours of mind-numbing boredom to discover that the apples can be eaten after all. But it is so difficult that starvation is a certainty, and the surprise for those who eat too much(!) seems reserved for supermen or people who enjoy playing monotonous games for hours on end.

PETER WALKER

This game has all the right ingredients to make it a winner: great graphics, great sound, great movement and an original idea. But there is one fault which spoils all this. IT'S TOO HARD!!!


On the first screen I found it impossible to eat enough apples. they kept hitting me on the head. Not one I would buy but still a very original game.

RICHARD BONIFACE