Producer: Ariolasoft
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: RamJam Corporation, Designed by Tigress Marketing

Ariolasoft have moved into the boardgame conversion market with Think! - a variant on the Connect 4 theme. The aim of the game, which can be played by two people or solo against the computer, is very straightforward. Players take turns to move a counter onto a six by six grid from the bottom or right-hand edge. If a player gets four counters in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line then he wins the game, even if the line was produced by the player's opponent and didn't result from a masterly move on the part of the winner.

When a counter is pushed onto the board and enters a row or column which already contains pieces they are all nudged along one square to make room - if the row or column already contains six counters, the sixth counter 'falls off' the board The game can be controlled from the keyboard or with a joystick and all option selections except the player's turn are icon-driven. After loading, the main option screen is presented. Using the cursor and pressing fire or ENTER to select icons, the game is configured according to the player's wishes. One or two players can participate. One player can take the computer on in a normal game of Think!, or can choose between the Tutorial and Problem modes.

In the Tutorial game, the human player is allowed to make three attempts at the best move during each turn. If the best choice is made first time, then three points are awarded, two points are given for getting it right second time and one point is collected if the best move is made at the third attempt. At the end of a Tutorial Game the computer reports on the player's performance, giving a percentage rating. The Problem mode allows you to access one of the six in-built problems, which have to be solved in two moves, or devise problems of your own by setting up the board. Home-grown problems can be presented to the computer or a friend for solution.

If two players are settling down to a session of Think! they can opt to play a straight game, or can select SPEED Think!, when both players have to make each move within a time limit input at the start. Alternatively, BLITZ Think! can be played, in which each player has a time allocation in which all his moves during that game have to be made - if a player runs out of time then the same is lost.

The remaining game control icons on the main option screen allow sound to be toggled on and off, keyboard or joystick to be selected for input, and the colours of the counters used to be set. You can choose your own colours for the counters, accept the default colours or specify black and white if your TV isn't up to full colour display.

If the player(s) are in any doubt about the rules, selecting the Rules Icon provides a quick summary of the salient points and accesses a demonstration sequence which plays a few moves on-screen. Once the options have been configured and the players are ready to do battle, selecting the Play Game icon moves the action to the playing area after a few appropriate questions about time limits and player names have been answered.

The main screen contains the board itself and a panel of six icons, which give access to the following functions: return to the option screen; display the last move played; force the computer to play the next move; change the computer's skill level; ask the computer to suggest a move and go back over the last two moves.

During play, a bar on the bottom of the screen displays the name of the current player, who must press the appropriate number or letter key to select the entry point for his counter. At the end of a game, all the moves can be reviewed by selecting the BACK icon, and choosing a replay speed from 1 to 9. At any point during a game it is possible to flip to the option screen and save the game to tape or dump the screen to a ZX printer. The game in progress can be resumed, or abandoned and a new game started with the same set-up.

There's certainly plenty of scope for Thinking!

COMMENTS

Control keys: SPACE to move cursor down, M cursor up, Enter to highlight icon selected
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Keyboard play: fine
Use of colour: definable colours for counters, well thought out
Graphics: serve their purpose well
Sound: just beeps to confirm selections
Skill levels: seven levels for your computer opponent
Screens: option screen and playing area

Icons are the latest trend, and Ariolasoft's icon-driven menu is a pleasure to use. It's good to have a nice simple but playable board/strategy game, and this is both original and challenging. As the instructions say, it's easy to pick up, but difficult to master. Essentially, we have a good simple idea, that has been well implemented. Levels One and Two didn't present toooo much of a challenge when I was playing the computer, but as I progressed beyond Level Three I had to give the old brain a good dust down as it got really hard. I suppose lots of people are going to master it, but it gave me a bit of fun for the time I played it, and one thing's for sure: it made me THINK!

On receiving this game the first thing I did was think! What on earth could a game called Think be about? On playing the game is became very obvious-what a thinker stinker it is! Think is an excellent variation of the old board game Connect 4 which I love. This is a very polished icon-driven game, and it's very addictive indeed - why can't all games be this well presented? After the shock of the great 'front end' I finally got to the game itself, which gave me a few sleepless hours. Think is a definite test of the old brain cells at the beginning, but after a while I found it quite easy to win on even the harder levels. A small let down: I enjoyed the challenge. Then I realised that if I was careless with my first few moves, the old challenge soon returned. I'd recommend this game to all shoot em up addicts - it'll certainly keep them quiet for a bit.

Although you might think this game is very complicated and difficult to get into from the reams of instructions on the inlay, it's really very simple indeed. After a few moments getting the hang of the icons, you're away. The game itself is frustratingly complex - although the moves and rules are really simple. I found it very addictive and lots of fun - and good exercise for the grey matter. Well worth getting hold of a copy...

Ariolasoft
£7.95

So much for good old fashioned thinking, you'll need a PhD in applied mathematics to get one over the computer in this souped up version of Connect 4. Well, at least that's what I thought 'til the Ed thrashed me... so what better incentive to persevere with the game?'

It all sounds pretty mindless - get four counters in a row on a six by six board. But, although its easy to learn, it's a devil to master. You can only push your counters in from the bottom or right of the board and, to heighten your frustration, as soon as you make a move, all the counters on that row or column budge along one.

But, just to ease things along, Ariolasoft has provided not only natty little icons with which to select the type of game you wish to play but also a tutorial mode where the computer will only let you select winning moves. Trouble is, on the lower levels, since the computer refuses to think ahead, the game's likely to get itself into a loop as you both place your counter in the only conceivable winning position!

If you're into zapping and killing, give this one a miss - strictly one for the strategists.

Publisher: Ariolasoft
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair

It's not often you find a new strategy game - most are direct copies of old fashioned board games. Think! from Ariolasoft has the advantage of being designed for a computer, and although it would be possible to play without one, it would certainly be difficult.

Designers David Bishop, Don Hughes and Chris Palmer have produced a variant on the four-in-a-row group of games where you have to construct a line of four counters on a grid. Think! differs, however, by producing some radically new strategies for winning, by the addition of some novel rules.

There are only four rules in all. Counters can only be placed on the bottom row or right hand edge of the six-by-six board. When a counter is placed on the board, it pushes all the other counters on its column or row one space further along - the spaces shift too.

Counters can be pushed off the edge of the board and are then lost, and although the winner is the first to get a line of four, if he gives his opponent a line at the same time, he loses.

Simple, eh? It is indeed, but the problems start with visualising the state of the board a couple of moves ahead, when whole lines can shift. It's very easy to give the game away by overlooking a move.

You'll have gathered by now that I'm rather taken by the game, not least - perhaps - because I screwed a resignation out of designer David Bishop a few weeks ago. But the game would be nothing without the fine implementation by the programmers of Ramjam, Ariolasoft's in-house team.

The game can be played via joystick using an icon system which is very clear, and offers a wide number of options. There are seven levels of play, although after level five the response gets very slow.

You can opt for single, double, tutorial and problem mode. The tutorial mode scores according to the speed with which you find the best move, it's only really useful above level four, as it tends to suggest moves which can lead to perpetual stagnation. The problem mode comes with a library of 'mate in two' problems which should test your ability to spot some of the more subtle tactics in the game.

You can also redesign the colours of the pieces, switch the sound on and off, watch the computer checking out its best moves, get hints, replay old games and all the usual options associated with good Chess and Othello programs. Play is very fast for the first three levels, and fast enough on the next two - the computer can analyse its position much better than you, and plays a mean game at higher levels.

For strategy fans, Think! is well worth trying. While it's still hard to see whether the opening player has the advantage, some opening moves and strong positions have already been identified.

For example, a counter on F or 6 is usually a good opening move, worth playing early. Strong formations include a T-square - three in a row with one piece underneath the centre - or counters on 4,5,D and E simultaneously. Those will prove winning formations if you play wisely.

As well as those positions, try to build up forces around D4 and E5, which will later get shunted further afield to provide useful points for diagonal rows. As with games like chess, a direct assault is likely to fail compared to efforts to disguise your tactics and suddenly unlease several threats.

In the position shown, where blue must play and win in two moves, blue can threaten to win with counters on C, D, E, F, and 6, but only the counter on six generates enough threats to win immediately. The others rapidly lose the initiative to the red player.

That subtlety of tactics becomes overwhelming with a full board, particularly when it is only possible to survive by using the rule about not making a line for your opponent.

Full marks, then, to Ariolasoft and Co for a demanding, intriguing game. Let's have some letters about opening tactics from those of you who find Think! as much fun as I have.

Label: Firebird
Price: £1.99
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Tamara Howard

Think!, they said in the SU office. So I did. And after I'd finished thinking, about Life, the Universe and other such things, I got on and played the game from Firebird.

Think!, is not really a new game, it's a budget re-release. It got good reviews when it first came out, and it's going to get a good one from me now that it's selling for only €1.99.

It's a board simulation game. The idea is to place four of your counters in a line on the board before the computer or a human adversary does. A nice simple idea, and a nice simple game.

Playing the computer means a more taxing game, and, indeed, a greater possibility of losing. If, on the other hand, you don't manage to thrash your best friend, or even your pet hamster, then the Tutorial Mode offers helpful and friendly advice on how to win the next time.

As far as graphics go. Think!, isn't going to seem tremendously exciting. There are few moving parts, the most interesting manoeuvre being the trundling of colour counters across the board (yawn). But this is a minor fault, and you don't really expect anything more dynamic than that from a board game, do you. Do you?

Think! is, though, very neat, very slick and likely to keep the little grey cells ticking over.

Amstrad CPC, £1.99cs
Spectrum, £1.99cs

A wonderful idea: make up a boardgame of pure skill, and computerise it. Originally full-price on Ariolasoft you can now pick it up as a budget brain twister, and excellent value it is too.

It's a simple looking game, but appearances are misleading. Your aim is to make a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line four pieces long on the game's six by six board. You and your opponent (human or computer) take turns to push counters onto the lower or right-hand edges of the board. As the counter pushes onto the row, any counters already on the row move up or left one square. If this takes them off the edge, they disappear and are lost for good. There's no limit to the number of turns: you just keep playing till somebody wins.

The game has interesting subtleties to it and the computer opposition can be very tough indeed on the-harder settings, but it's still hard to pin down quite what makes it so maddeningly addictive: probably just that it's a simple idea very well implemented. A must buy for Spectrum and Amstrad owners, in any case.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Ariolasoft
PRICE: £7.95

Think! I thought. I moved. I lost. But was I disappointed? Not one jot.

Ariolasoft, mainly known for their imports of American software, has come up with a gem of a game with Think! And it's British, designed by the brains at Tigress Marketing.

Think! contains that all too rarely found quality: a new and simple idea cleverly executed.

Basically, Think! is a board game on computer, easy to learn, difficult to master. All you have to do is get four of your counters in a row on a six by six grid. You play against a friend or the computer, making alternate moves. The winning lines can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal.

The counters can only be moved onto the grid from the bottom or right edge of the board. When a new counter is introduced into the grid everything in that line or column is moved along - including the spaces. Get the idea?

One clever - or false move - can change the whole complexion of the game. A seemingly certain victory can become defeat.

There are seven levels of difficulty, hint facilities, different speed games and set problems to solve.

Think, is instantly playable, brilliantly simple and lastingly addictive. We think it's a winner.

The scores for graphics and sound are not really relevant as they are not vital to the game.

Spectrum
Ariolasoft
Board Game
£7.95

Board-games on computers have had a chequered history. Playing games like Connect-4 is just as easy with a pencil and paper as on a computer. But Ariolasoft think they have a winner on their hands with a board-game which can only easily be played on a computer.

The board consists of a six-by-six grid. You play counters alternately to either the bottom row or the right-hand column. If you play to a column, that column, all counters and spaces, move up one, and the same with rows. The object is to get four pieces in a row Connect-4 style.

The fact that a whole row or column moves when just one piece is played makes it very hard to look more than a couple of moves ahead to try and force a win.

The game is designed by Tigress Marketing, and a lot of time and effort appears to have gone into attractive presentation.

The "front-end" of the game is nicely designed, with icons allowing you to select various game options. Seven levels of computer opponent, normal, timed or "blitz" play, sound, colour and joystick options.

Although easy to learn, it takes a great deal of time to master. Even beating the computer at a low level is quite an achievement. At the higher levels the computer takes rather a long time, but you can prompt it to move when you get fed up. There is a tutorial mode, where the computer gives you points for the quality of your moves, there is a problem-solving mode and a move take back feature. An intriguing, original board-game well presented.