Producer: Hewson Consultants
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Mike Male and Bob Hillyer

The authors of this game are in fact air traffic controllers rather than train drivers - you may remember that Mike wrote Hewson's Heathrow Air Traffic Control. Bob, his colleague, is the chuff-chuff nut, so the writing of what must be the first steam train simulation isn't such an unnatural progression from Mike's earlier work. The simulation is based on the workings of a King Arthur class locomotive, typically used on the London to Brighton route. In those great and glorious days of railway travel, the carriages on that route were so luxurious that the train came to be known as the Southern Belle.

During your second stage of life you may have dreamt of being an engine driver, but it really isn't as easy as you might like to think. The Hewson simulation goes a long way to introducing the practical difficulties that might be met by an engine driver, particularly one on the Southern Belle route. But, should you simply want to 'have a ride' on a steam train, then the authors have provided a demo mode which presents you with a high speed, expertly driven journey from London to Brighton, something along the lines of that well known black and white film. The instructions that come with the game are divided into two sections. The first section could be usefully read while the game is loading, as it introduces the concepts and helps you come to terms with the complicated controls.

The instructions detail how a steam engine works, and that knowledge is important if you are to appreciate the effects of the various controls, or indeed even why some of them are necessary. Also, there are a number of regulations that must be observed, like those relating to the use of the whistle. When you 'drive' the train at the highest level you will be marked down for a number of faults, including not observing any pertinent rules, failing to keep good time, poor fuel economy and general reckless driving.

The instruments that can be seen on screen by the driver, and therefore the player, include the water and pressure gauges and the position of the various control levers: the regulator. controls the flow of steam to the cylinders; cut off, determines at which part of the cylinder cycle steam will be admitted; vacuum brake, five degrees of braking power; the blower, used to prevent gas and sparks coming into the cab when the train is in a tunnel; the injectors, regulate the water flow from the tank to the boiler and finally, the dampers which regulate the volume of air flowing into the firebox.

The firebox must be kept stoked and fuelled to provide the maximum safe temperature: a simple operation in itself, but while a key press is enough to shovel in some more coal, don't forget to open the firedoor first! Keeping a fire in is one thing, but as any good driver will tell you, you must look at the smoke coming from the engine to determine just how efficient it is. For example, very light smoke means that too much air is getting into the fire while dark smoke means you should let more air in.

Outside the cab itself another section keeps you informed about your water and coal stocks, speed, and the condition of any signals on the line. The all-important railway clock hasn't been left out either. If you make any mistakes on a run then a message will appear at the bottom of the screen telling you where you have gone wrong: 'BLOWBACK, CREW INCAPACITATED', for instance, means that you failed to open the blower when entering a tunnel.

Given the complexity of the task in hand it's as well that the authors have provided a number of different difficulty levels. The easiest, 'the training run' follows the same schedule as the demonstration, but the player can choose which of the train's controls he is responsible for, just the regulator, cut off and brake right up to the fifth level giving you total control. The tasks that you don't want are controlled by the computer. When you feel a little more reckless (or competent) you can have a go at some of the more difficult schedules. Option three on the main menu gives you an easy run with speed limits but no stops. Option five gives you a chance to break the London to Brighton record set in 1903. The final option is called 'Problem run' - on this journey you can expect to have to cope with a wide variety of dilemmas, and if you manage maximum points on that run you might qualify for a real train to play with!

COMMENTS

Control keys: too many to list here
Joystick: not required
Keyboard play: well thought out
Use of colour: very limited
Graphics: effective but slightly jerky
Sound: pretty sparse, rhythm of the train does come across
Skill levels: 6, plus 5 training levels
Lives: N/A
Screens: N/A

I'm not really what you could call a train buff, and to be honest I can't see what people enjoy in looking at noisy and dirty machines on wet Sunday afternoons. I think that's a good qualification for writing an unbiased review. The first surprise I had was the pile of instructions that came with the game. I thought it was just a case of add coal and water and hold on tight. Afterwards I am convinced that it's a great deal easier to fly the simulated planes to drive this train. Hewson, in their wisdom have allowed for all levels of abilities from just being a passenger to full scale panic. Southern Belle contains some well drawn graphics. Although they tend to scroll a little jerkily, the overall effect works quite well. If you like simulations then this one must be a technonuts delight watching all the dials and gauges and levers. I certainly recommend this game to those of you who enjoy simulations and those who tend towards the mechanical side of life.

My first impression of Southern Belle was quite different to my final verdict. This is a very complicated simulation providing a great deal of variation. The game is hard to come to terms with because there is so much to do and you are kept very busy, but once mastered, it's brilliant. The job becomes very exciting and involved when attempting speed runs but at high speed you must always be very careful not to de-rail the train. There's a great deal of skill involved and hardly any luck, a must for the simulation lovers.

If you can cope with the mass of learning needed to master this train you should have quite a lot of fun. It offers lots of variations but really comes into its own when the player has a good idea what he is doing. It not very pleasant to find yourself, as I did, hairing into Brighton Station at 67 mph. On that score I am a little saddened that the really dramatic stuff, like crashing into the station, is such a let down. The threat of a huge and noisy explosion would have added something. On the whole though, this game is worth mastering mainly because it is such a challenge.

Rick: "Live out your dreams on the Southern Belle" (Who she? Ed.) But it's not really a dreamworld. This cunning cassette has nothing to do with sultry Southern women though Dad's more likely to get steamed up over this than he did over your train set! But nostalgia ain't what it used to be as the age of steam meets the age of the microchip.

The game faithfully re-enacts the Southern Relies hour long journey from London Victoria to Brighton. The brain takes the strain and the computer plays commuter as you try to keep to schedule without letting the coal or water run down. But it's all a little too predictable. And why not choose a more thrilling run like that of the Mallard if you want speedy excitement? Pre-Beeching in its evocation of steam romance - prehistoric in its chug-along concept. Give me the 125 any day. 6/10

Ross: The wide range of control options offered in this game made it possible for me to get the train in motion without even using the instructions! But once I was merrily chuff, chuffing down the track, I wished I wasn't there. 4/10

Dougie: Well, it's a welcome change from space games, but it doesn't quite make the grade to become a classic. What it lacks is some excitement. 5/10

Publisher: Hewson
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K

Take your seats for the 12 o'clock service from London Victoria, calling at Clapham Junction, Merstham, Haywards Health and all stations to Brighton. The Southern Belle, the famous Pullman service of the 1920s, is stoking up for a final run.

Hewson has attempted to capture the trials of life in the engine cab in a full simulation of one of the most elegant trains of all. You must control a 4-6-0 King Arthur Class locomotive, regulating the steam pressure, shovelling coal into the boiler, obeying signals, and even blowing the whistle at the correct times.

The screen display shows the interior of the cab and the features of the track as they pass by. Those include 24 stations, tunnels - including the twin-towered Clayton tunnel - signal boxes, Battersea Power Station, and other landmarks.

Controlling the train is not easy, in spite of the comprehensive booklet including a history of the line. Gradients are included, and to score full points you must make it to Brighton on time, using an economical amount of coal.

There are a number of training modes, where the computer controls many of the functions, and the full run includes weather hazards. There is a high-speed demo as well, but the whole trip is in real-time, so you will not finish in under an hour.

The version we saw was a pre-production copy with many of the control features not fully operative. Hewson promises further landmarks and decoration on the screen, as well as information about hazards and signals. Our rating is therefore provisional and may be updated in a later issue.

Train lovers will certainly enjoy a good, solid simulation, and those who are used to flight simulators may find a day's outing on the sSouthern Belle a refreshing change from airport mayhem.

CAN THIS BE REAL?

Fly an aircraft, race around the world's most dangerous Grand Prix circuits or take a steam locomotive from London to Brighton. Just as your Spectrum can take you into the depths of space to zap aliens so it can simulate most audio visual real-life events you can mention. This month SU straps itself into the world of Spectrum simulators. Here's our choices:

SOUTHERN BELLE
Label: Hewson
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K/128K

The Victoria to Brighton line has always been a firm favourite with steam railway enthusiasts and, at the beginning of '86, Hewson capitalised on a large minority's infatuation with trains with the launch of Southern Belle.

You take the dual roles of Driver and dfireman on the train through the 50 mile run and six levels of legitimate play.

Pressing the Enter key gives you that famous high speed run through an authentically depicted track layout. All the major features and atmosphere of the country side and small village stations are depicted. The bridges are actually drawn and even the sharp turns are realistic.

Each of the six main levels has a different schedule. Easy schedules include speed limits with stops at some stations - making it difficult to keep to your time table - while the higher level schedules stop the train at ever stop and pose built-in problems such as making a record-breaking run.

Your trips to Brighton are evaluated by the computer and a score totted up at the end of the journey which takes account time keeping at stations, speed and whether you've kept the steam in good nick. You can do all the usual things, like blowing the whistle, stoking the fire and slamming on the brakes but you should watch out for the error messages such as Unsafe Reversing or Train Derailed. Think of the passengers.

Okay, so you're not exactly in a joystick controlled driving seat for this one, but this stoking and shunting simulation will take you back to the good old days.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Hewson Consultants
PRICE: £7.95

I was really chuffed to get this game. Chuff, chuff, chuffed in fact. There are flight simulators, motor racing simulators, space simulators - but never a steam train simulator. Until now, that is.

Hewson Consultants - better known for the Avalon/Dragontord arcade adventures - have gone out on a limb to produce Southern Belle, an authentic recreation of what it was like to drive a steam train from London to Brighton! You couldn't really get more original than that now, could you?

The object of the game is to drive the Southern Belle - in real life a King Arthur Class 4-6-0 steam engine from the 1930s - from Victoria Station to Brighton, keeping to the timetable, watching out for hazards and making sure that you don't blow the poor old Belle's boiler up!

Now, that might sound a trifle ordinary to those of you out there not into steam engines - but far from it. Once you've loaded the game into your steam-powered Spectrum and marvelled at the neat graphics, you'll be hooked for at least the next hour. That's how long it should take you to reach Brighton - in computer time anyway, Remember - "We're getting there"!

There are seven levels of play - ranging from a training run where you learn all about stoking the boiler and the use of the various controls you find on the footplate. The program enables you to take charge of any number of these controls. So you could just look after the stoking and the whistle - or go all out for total control on any of the game options.

But beware! You'll need to spend some time reading the comprehensive instructions that come with the game to get the most out of it.

The graphics are vector line style and very effective. The footplate of the loco looks good too - with the firedoor opening and closing to reveal a blazing fire.

At the bottom of the screen is a message board which informs you of any important happenings on the track ahead and on the right hand side you see information such as the time, signals and the state of your coal and water supplies. The signal icon toggles between a gradient indicator - so you can tell when to get a bit more speed up.

Overall Southern Belle is a brave attempt at producing an original game. If you've always wanted to drive a steam train - and who hasn't - this is a good way to fulfill your dreams.

Spectrum 48K
Hewson Consultants
Simulator
£7.95

The golden age of steam is dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age of the micro. All aboard, the whistle blows, and the mighty Southern Belle pulls out of Victoria on its way to Brighton with you at tie controls.

You take the part of an engineer, with the computer holding your hand to start off with; as your confidence grows, you can take on harder and harder runs, and use more of the controls. What will make this game a huge hit with the steam fraternity is the "chrome", with perspective line drawings of all major track-side features. Unique idea, superbly executed.

Hewson Consultants
£7.95

I could never really cope with flight simulations, when I were a lad I wanted to be a train driver anyway! So now my youthful dreams can be realised, on the computer screen at least, thanks to this program. In a fit of inspirational genius, Hewson decided to produce this simulation of driving a King Arthur class 4-6-0 steam train from London to Brighton.

Now, in itself this may not sound particularly arduous but when you realise all the variables that need to be balanced. Water Steam, Whistle, Regulator, Cut Off, Vacuum Brake, Blower, Injectors, Dampers, Firehole Doors, Gradients, Signals and a schedule, it's not that simple. Fortunately there is a wide selection of control levels - 132 in all, plus some unexpected problems which are thrown in at the hardest level, just when you thought you'd got it sussed!

I was, at first, a little disappointed by the graphics, which present plus line drawings of the main landmarks in 3D perspective, but as I played the game I realised they were perfect. Not too much action to detract from the main job of operating the engine, but just enough to give you visual information of your position. The animation is effective, but is a little jerky.

Not only will old hands find a challenge, but those who do not have the experience of this kind of simulator program should consider this one for the ease with which you can gain experience, even the manual is written in a sensible, easy to read way.

A well balanced, challenging and beautifully conceived program.

CHRIS BOURNE TAKES A NOSTALGIC TRIP THROUGH THE BATTLE-STREWN FIELDS OF LAST YEAR'S STRATEGY GAMES

Before programmers discovered sprites, 3D graphics and continuous fire buttons, strategy games were regarded as a sort of ideal computer entertainment. That was partly based on the idea that computers were essentially souped-up calculators and partly because mainframe computers were very good at games like chess.

If you were into computers when the Spectrum was launched, you'll remember titles like Football Manager, and Flight Simulation being held up as examples of the finest programs around. These days it's more likely to be Alien 8, Shadowfire or Dun Darach, and their reputation depends in great part on graphics programming.

One of the reasons for that is financial. In their wisdom, retailers and distributors tend to see strategy games as having a narrow appeal. They are the classic sleepers which sell steadily but slowly. The trade wants the money now and lots of it. That means quick-selling arcade games, preferably with some spin-off celebrity theme attached, which hits number one in the charts in a couple of weeks and stiffs out a month later.

Many of the fine strategy/simulation games, produced in 1985, saw little exposure in the shops - certainly not in the big high street chains. That does not mean they were no good. In fact, there has been something of an upsurge in the quality of strategy games recently, and most spectacularly in the field of wargames.

Wargames have as long a tradition as any sort of computer entertainment. If you've ever read the hefty instruction books for classic wargames of the past - Avalon Hill's Afrika Korps you'll understand why. Those rules tended to read like a computer program with complicated look-up tables for cross-referencing dice throws, gridded maps and strict sequences of actions within a given turn of play. They also took hours to play.

The computer is supposed to take all the argument of table-top gaming out of wargames. It quickly does all the adding up, it doesn't cheat, and it can handle secret moves easily.

Unfortunately, most wargames never turn out like that. Graphics tend to be based on unrealistic grids, the rules appear over-simple, and the computer generally takes a vast amount of time to think about the moves.

One such game, which in other respects might have deserved success, was ATRAM. The name stands for Advanced Tactical Reconnaissance and Attack Mission, which turns out to be a NATO exercise in which the RAF and USAF battle it out using Harrier jump jets. The idea neatly sidesteps the obvious problems involved in trying to flog a game based on bombing the daylights out of Port Stanley.

The game is a computer-moderated boardgame with a glossy magnetic board and stylized pieces that you slide about as if you were a real NATO general. Unfortunately, the computer part is less fun. The only excuse for the program is to handle the boring bits like keeping track of how much fuel each jet has consumed.

The author is clearly fixated on jargon, which makes the rules almost unreadable, and all moves are keyed-in in a jumble of letters and numbers. It is so easy to make a mistake that you'll never be entirely sure whether you're playing the game properly. Headbangers and retired Harrier pilots only.

A much better two-player wargame is Confrontation from Lothlorien. Confrontation is a wargame system which allows you to design your own maps and, within reason, choose the composition of your armies. That allows you to play at a tactical or strategic level. The flavour is essentially modern, with armour and mechanised infantry supported by footsloggers, artillery and air units.

To go with the system, Lothlorien has also released a set of four scenarios ranging from a fictional WWII invasion of Kent to guerilla warfare in Afghanistan and Angola. We found the Egypt-Israel scenario most interesting in that the open terrain left units extremely vulnerable without air support. The organisation of such support requires capturing and defending a chain of airstrips in order to reach Tel Aviv or Suez depending on which way you're going.

Nevertheless, Confrontation is still slow. The same cannot be said of Overlords, another two-player game from Lothlorien. Loosely based on an old boardgame favourite, Campaign, it is played across a large area of fairly basic terrain. The concept is abstract, involving footsoldiers, generals, and the Overlord. The objective is to capture strongpoints - ownership of which generates one piece per turn. The fighting is equally abstract, based on the number and strength of the pieces in contact with the enemy.

Both players play simultaneously, and the game is so fast that you'll almost certainly need joysticks - preferably one each. The pieces whizz about the screen and that leads to a magnificent confusion as both players simultaneously attempt to outflank their opponent.

By and large, it is the epic battles of WWII which command the keenest attention from programmers. Battle for Midway is a strange hybrid from PSS, and incorporates arcade sequences. The Battle of Midway was a crucial turning point in the war against Japan, when the US sent a force to smash the invasion fleet.

The PSS game falls into two parts. First, locate the course of the three arms of the Japanese forces. Having done that you must send out strike forces from your aircraft carriers to bomb them.

When battle is joined you get the chance to zap the Japs using a joystick, which rather spoils the point of a supposedly realistic wargame. The author claims it simulates the fog of war, or some such nonsense.

We found the game easy to beat - it's good to see the computer taking an active part in a solo game for once, but the graphics are primitive and not very clear. A year ago we might have had more praise, but there are better games around.

Much better, in fact, and the star of the bunch is undoubtedly Arnhem from CCS. CCS, like Lothlorien, specialises in strategy games. For years CCS games were worthy rather than exciting, and almost always written in super-slow Basic. With Arnhem the company has finally struck gold.

The game follows the thrust of the Allied armies across the Rhine against fierce German opposition. The main idea was simple enough. The British were supposed to hurtle down country roads to Arnhem while American paratroopers were dropped on the bridges ahead to hold them for the main advance.

Of course it wasn't as simple as that, and neither is the game. There are a number of levels at which you can play, until you get to the full battle. A time limit is set, and if you don't capture the bridges quickly enough you lose. The German task is therefore to hold up the advance.

The graphics are pleasant, and information about each unit's strength can be obtained by positioning the cursor. One of the best features is the movement system. You can choose to move in open or close order - open order means you are far less vulnerable to attack but cannot take proper advantage of the roads. The game can be played by up to three players - with three, one player gets the Germans and the other two play British and American forces.

The feel of the game is tremendously realistic, with the onus placed on keeping the British moving down the roads. Arnhem is absolutely recommended and will hopefully encourage other software houses to pull their socks up and match the standard.

Less attractive, but equally fast, is Lothlorien's The Bulge - the German counter-attack on Antwerp and Hitler's last great offensive in Western Europe. It was always doomed to failure, what with narrow country lanes and terrain choked in snow. The computer plays so quickly and viciously that you'll be hard put to survive.

Although The Bulge scores over Arnhem for speed, the graphics are less clear and the strategy less easy to fathom. Lothlorien has opted for simultaneous movement, and one is frequently reduced to hurling forces willy-nilly into the fray without much regard for tactics.

A pleasing feature of both Arnhem and The Bulge is that you can issue general orders to units which they will continue to obey until you change them. That is a sensible and much more realistic alternative and saves having to move fifty pieces every turn, slowing the whole flow of play.

Moving away from wargames, another category of great antiquity in computer circles is what is known as the land-management game. An early example of the genre was Hamurabi which puts you in charge of an ancient kingdom. You are head of a population, and there is corn in the treasury.

The idea is to manage the economy - based entirely on corn - so that everybody gets enough to eat. There is enough corn to sow for next year with some in reserve in case of natural disaster.

Of course, the way the game is set up at the beginning, there is never enough, so you get to make decisions about how many people to starve to death for the greater good of the rest, and so on.

Such games are very easy to construct on computers, and if you want to write your own strategy game we suggest you try something along those lines. The secret is to construct a set of formulae governing the relationship between various factors - for example, how much food do people need? How many people are needed to sow an acre of land? How much corn?

There are very few business-type activities that cannot be simulated in that sort of way. Two famous games of this type are Football Manager from Addictive Games and Mugsy from Melbourne House, in which you play a gangster trying to run rackets with the aid of a none too loyal gang.

Sadly, Kevin Toms - Mr Football Manager himself - has not managed to follow that enormous success.

Addictive has brought out a number of games along similar lines in 1985, but none of them match the old classic.

Software Superstar casts you as a producer of games. You have to allocate time and money each month to releasing games, programming, advertising and the like. Nice touches include the decision to hype games or be honest about them, but the overall impression is dull, and we found it easy to get a hit program and reach the targets set.

Grand Prix Manager from the same outfit was equally tedious, with poor graphics to boot. Luckily CRL brought out the infinitely more entertaining Formula One - a Sinclair User classic - which we found totally compulsive.

Formula One is a full simulation of a grand prix season. Start off by hiring drivers and building cars - you have a million quid or so but it goes very fast. When the race starts choose your tyres and then watch the cars whizz past in convincing graphics. Messages inform you of the state of the track and incidents involving other cars, while a leader board keeps you in touch with the race positions.

Best of all, you can call pit stops for tyre changes, and the correct choice of timing may win or lose a race. The pit stop sequence is arcade based, and you have to manoeuvre a mechanic around the four wheels to complete it. Purists may have their doubts, but the speed of movement is linked to the amount of money you invested in the crew, and does not therefore make a mockery of the strategic element.

Formula One is a good game against the computer, but becomes really exciting when played with friends.

Almost as enthralling, although less well presented and rather more anarchic in play is The Biz, a simulation of the record industry from Virgin Games. You begin by choosing your social class - from stinking rich to unemployed - and then form a band. Hire a manager, go on the pub or college circuit and send endless demo tapes to bored record companies. If you have the money, you can cut your own discs, but beware - without the clout of the big boys behind you it may all go to nothing. The ultimate goal is, of course, to get a number one, but the road is full of pitfalls.

The game is full of subtle humour - you may reckon a dry ice machine is just right for your tacky rock band, but watch your credibility plummet. You may even get a chance to sample drugs during the game. Try it and see where it gets you.

On then to simulation proper, by which is meant those worthy and sometimes addictive attempts to portray accurately a real-life experience. The original impetus comes from the flight simulators used by airlines to train pilots, and for some time software houses only seemed to be interested in mimicking those.

They all look more or less the same, with an array of instruments on the lower half of the screen and a view of the horizon with occasional crude landmarks. Some are better than others for speed and ease of use, and the best are still Psion's antique classic, Flight Simulation and Digital integration's Fighter Pilot, which is rather more difficult but does allow for aerial dogfights.

DACC specialises in those features, and recently brought out 747 Flight Simulator. We've taken a bit of stick at Sinclair User for giving it the thumbs down, but I still maintain it's an unexciting production, mainly because the Jumbo jet isn't a patch on a light aircraft for aerobatics.

Real enthusiasts will probably enjoy it, it is certainly a worthy and apparently highly accurate program. If you're looking for entertainment, though, try elsewhere.

You might try looking at Southern Belle from Hewson. The program simulates the old Pullman service from London to Brighton, and you have to handle the great steam engine all the way.

Initial levels involve handling only one or two controls while the computer does the rest, but you work up to a full schedule with stops, signals, hazards on the track, brakes and handling gradients, to name a few.

It is a surprisingly fulfilling program, and the wire-frame graphics of recognisable landmarks along the track are well executed. You are marked at the end according to your accuracy on the schedule and how economically you conserved fuel.

Another unusual simulation is Juggernaut from CRL, in which you have to drive a container truck around town picking up cargoes. The screen shows an overhead view of the lorry and road, with traffic lights, status, steering and gears. The movement is slow and there are no other vehicles around - presumably you're driving in the middle of the night, council bye-laws notwithstanding. The irrepressible John Gilbert reckons the lorry looks like a Gillette GII razor. He's quite right, and although Juggernaut isn't a bad idea, the end result is rather dull.

Finally, a look at a few odds and ends which don't really fit any categories. One such Minder, a much-hyped trading game based on the famous television series.

You play Arthur Daley, the dodgy entrepreneur, and the idea is to buy and sell an incredible range of weird goods such as gold acupuncture needles while steering clear of the law in the form of mean inspector Chisholm.

You do that by seeking out dealers and wide boys, either at their warehouses or in the Winchester Club. Terry, as ever, gets to do the fetching and carrying, and can also be hired to mind you - an important function when dealers discover goods are stolen.

In essence the game is simply trading, with a large text interpreter enabling you to bargain with characters in authentic Daley cockney - it understands words like bent, or pony. Once you get into it there's rather more strategy involved. You have to organise Terry's time so goods get collected and delivered on schedule, while you need sufficient cash to pay for the next lot.

Minder is a pleasant romp and deserved to do better in the charts than it did, but would have benefited from a greater variety of incidents. Memory taken up with slang during the bargaining is fun at first but since it is really only window dressing it leaves you with the feeling that the game lacks depth.

Alien on the other hand, from Argus, has plenty of depth but is difficult to get into. It follows the tense cult movie in which a devastating alien invades a spaceship and proceeds to exterminate the crew.

The game uses menus to pick characters, objects and locations in the spaceship Nostromo, while plans of the decks indicate your position. The idea is to destroy the alien either in a straight fight - fat chance - or by escaping from the ship and blowing it up by remote control.

You only see the alien when you are in control of a character in the same room. The rest of the time you can hear it as doors and ventilation grilles slide open, or your scanner picks up the presence of a living creature nearby. That makes for tremendous tension in the play, and the one drawback is the simplicity of the graphics which works against the otherwise strong illusion of involvement. Fans of the film will enjoy it. Others may find it tough going.

We have made no mention of some of the plethora of spin-off titles in the sports arena which might come under the umbrella of simulations. Those are generally disappointing, especially in comparison with the arcade based sports games. Two, which play quite well, are Steve Davis' Snooker and American Football from Argus - which has the added virtue of not involving a famous personality. Nick Faldo's Open is a lovingly programmed simulation of the course at Sandwhich which suffers from one horrible flaw. The closer your ball is to the flag on the green, the more difficult it is to judge the angle at which you should strike it. In fact, the reverse should happen.

It is heartening to see arcade games taking on more elements of strategy in their play. Arcade-adventures such as Knight Lore or Gyron - if you can categorise those masterpieces at all - have as much to do with logical thought and planning as they do with swift reactions. That argues a growing maturity, both among games publishers and also in public taste, as computer owners look for more than a quick joystick fix from their hobby.

Without doubt the finest simulation of the past year, Southern Belle takes you on a train ride from London to Brighton during the age of steam. You play the part of driver and fireman - and it's a complex operation. Keeping the boiler stoked, using the brakes, blowing the whistle, and many other features combine to keep you busy for the whole trip.

There are schedules to follow, and a number of training levels for the beginner. Graphics are pleasing too, with wireframe stations and signal boxes, and a number of real-life landmarks, such as Battersea Power Station, portrayed for added realism. Just as difficult as flight simulations, and much more fun to watch.