Producer: Lothlorien
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £9.99
Author: By David Bolton and Colin Gordon. Published by Argus Press Software

One of the problems of being a software reviewer is that one tends to become very jaded about the games that are available, and the idea of actually playing computer games for recreation often goes down the plug hole. Which is why I find it such a pleasant surprise to find myself engrossed in a game, and wanting to carry on playing until I master it. The Bulge is such a game; it's highly addictive, and that's a very rare thing amongst strategy games.

I recently reviewed a game by Lothlorien called Overlords, which I said at the time looked likely to be their last independent release. The Bulge bears that out, and is the first release featuring Lothlorien in the role of design house only. The difference is incredible! it looks as though, freed from the incessant hassle of overdue bills, VAT returns, sales pitches to distributors, printing foul-ups and all the rest of it, Lothlorien have finally managed to concentrate their energies into the game.

The Bulge is without question the biggest (in terms of playing area) strategy game I've seen, it's also incredibly fast (responses, cursor movement, scrolling) and works in simulated real time - half an hour in the game passes every 15 seconds or so. The game is very user-friendly to play, and has the facility to change the background and unit colours - very useful if you're playing on a black and white TV (see the review of Midway for more thoughts on this!). It can be played as a one player or two player game, and for once neither game loses out.

The scenario follows history pretty closely: the Germans, in a last ditch attempt to avert the course of the war (in December 1944) launched a massive attack at a weak point in the Allied front line which was then lying roughly along the line of the current German/French border. The intention was to break through the Ardennes - a fairly mountainous forest area - and push on towards Antwerp.

The game presents an accurate representation of the terrain, and a major feature is the weather - in the real Battle of the Bulge, the heavy snow that fell over Christmas was a major factor in stopping the German advance and in the game it can play an equally decisive role. The playing area is (I think) 65 x 100 units, and you have a fully scrolling map window of 24 x 24 units. You also have a 'strategic' map window which shows you about a quarter of the total playing area at once, and you can swap between the two. Using a cursor, you move around the map, giving each of your units directional orders. They move towards their allocated target until told otherwise; combat is determined by strength of numbers and a few other factors, such as infantry in towns, gaining extra defensive power from the town.

Placing your cursor over a unit will cause its strength to be displayed on screen, so it is possible to keep track of relative strengths; but I have so far found that the game moves so fast (even with pausing at every opportunity!) that I have been forced to conduct a mad scramble eastwards to try and contain the advance of the Germans (you can play the German role if you want). At the start of the game each side has around thirty units, and reinforcements arrive during the game; the allies have only two unit types, infantry and armour, while the Germans have both artillery and mobile artillery as well. Unit defeats are shown on a continual scrolling headline on the screen, as are the weather forecasts, and news of reinforcements.

It can be difficult to keep up with all the information being pumped out at you, and play the game at the same time, but it's reassuring to note that the enemy apparently makes mistakes too - not taking the easiest routes, for example. The graphics are clear and crisp, and the colour-changing facility is a boon. The overall presentation has improved immeasurably since Lothlorien's earliest outings, and the influence of Argus on aspects such as pack and booklet design is discreet and totally beneficial. This is one collaboration that I can only applaud - and if Argus' involvement means you will actually see The Bulge in your High Street, then it's even better.

If I wanted to find a couple of points in the game to complain about, I could - I mean, obviously it's not perfect, but simply the overwhelming scope and power of the game would make objections niggardly. Lothlorien have come good at last.

Dave: No, it's not a diet program, we're back in wargame land.

This one's based on the Battle of Antwerp which happened around the end of WWI II. If you cast your mind back to Imagine's Stonkers, there are a lot of similarities - such as using the cursor to move troops around on-screen. Also like Stonkers, you're kept up to date by means of a ticker-tape display.

The actual playing area is about 12 times the size of the screen, so when your cursor gets near to the edge of the screen you scroll automatically into the next area. Screen graphics are OK, but nothing to write to Mum about in your letter from the Front.

The game can be played by two players, the Speccy taking the other side should you have to play on your own.

Strategically, Bulge is quite good, but I've got a feeling hardened wargamers may find the whole affair a bit easy. However, for the novice, Bulge is recommended. 3/5 MISS

Ross: On the whole, I find most wargames boring. Having said that, though, The Bulge should satisfy the death-dealing instincts of your average aspiring Montgomery... it looks complicated enough anyway. 2/5 MISS

Roger: With a title like that I'm sure there's something obscene I could say... but it might detract from what I thought was a very good wargame. Definitely one for the more violent of our readership. 4/5 MISS

This name marked in change in direction for Lothlorien. It was the first title to take advantage of Lothlorien's skills as a design and programming house in combination with Argus Press Softwares marketing power. The game was glossily produced in medium format complete with historical dossier covering events and decisions leading up to the conflict, notes on playing techniques and of course, instructions for play. The game has single and two player options.

One of the fascinating details about the conflict was the fact that the Allies made the same crucial mistake twice. In 1940 the French commanders wrongly concluded that tanks could not be effectively deployed in the dense forest of the Ardennes - a mistake which contributed to the rapid fall of France. By Christmas 1944, the Allies had pushed the Germans back to their borders. Then made the same mistake as the French: only a light screening force was deployed on the Ardennes front. Hitler knew that enough pressure could be brought to bear, creating a bulge in the enemy front and leaving him in an ideal position to take the Allied supply base at Antwerp.

It was a sound basis for a counter attack, but there were problems General Sepp Dietrich, who headed the advance. said 'All I had to do was cross a river, capture Brussels, and then go on to take the port of Antwerp. The snow was waist deep and there wasn't enough room to deploy four tanks abreast, let alone six armoured divisions. It didn't get light until eight and was dark again at four; and all this at Christmas time.'

The Battle of the Bulge, or Wacht am Rhein as the Germans called it, is an excellent choice for a military simulation and this one is the best cassette based simulation of the conflict avail able for any micro. The map is well defined and simultaneous movement adds to the professionalism of the program.

Both sides have to learn different lessons from the fighting. The German problem is mainly one of logistics. They have to move fast to knock out enemy resistance before being bogged down. The Allied player, on the other hand must choose his methods of defence well. Initially, the Allied forces will be vastly outnumbered and outgunned. Only clever deployment of meagre resources coupled with the realistic view that some units will have to be lost to buy time can help win the day for the Allies.

Whether or not a successful counter attack could have brought the Germans victory on the Western front is not in question here, though in case you're interested, this seems most unlikely. Hitler had few resources, the Russians were looking unstoppable, the rest of the Axis powers were close to collapse and the Americans were only months away from having their first nuclear weapons (though the Germans too, were very close to achieving this aim). What is certain, is that a successful counter attack and consequent capture of Antwerp would have been a serious blow to the Allied war effort and would have lengthened the war by several months.

Angus made this game a Smash and I wholeheartedly agree with him. There are no difficulty levels but the strength of the computer opponent is great and would take some time to master. The Bulge would still be an excellent addition to any wargamers collection and a good game for the aspiring beginner also.

Publisher: Lothlorien
Price: £9.99
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston

The Bulge has nothing to do with eating too much paella on your summer hols. It's all about war, as you'd expect from Lothlorien, and it's set in the Christmas of 1944, when the snow was deep all over Belgium and the Allies storming towards Berlin.

The Battle of the Bulge was Hitler's response to the rapid success achieved by the allies after the initial D-Day landings. The plan was to blitzkrieg through the American lines, capture Antwerp, and split the allies in two.

Lothlorien's game, marketed under a new deal by Argus, simulates the campaign from either point of view, depending on your tastes. You can also play with a friend rather than against the computer.

There are two main displays, a 'global' one which shows the entire disposition of forces, and the battle map, a large scrolling area where orders are given and units moved. The essence of the game is to set appropriate long range objectives for main units and then adjust to send reinforcements to particular areas.

Terrain and weather are taken into account, and everything is real-time, which leaves room for little error. The Germans must punch through as fast as they can, while the allies must bolster the tattered lines.

The display is clear, if not particularly artistic, with UDG-style terrain and units. Movement is by positioning a cursor, and then pressing SPACE. Information is given on the unit's status and then you can issue orders to move it.

The Bulge begs comparison with the excellent Arnhem from CCS. The game is not quite so friendly to play, but gives as good a feel for the problems of the campaign. It might be improved with better sound effects, and clearer indications of when pieces have been moved or not, as it is possible to cancel an order without realising it.

That said, The Bulge is a good hard fight. It is fast and accurate, and a welcome addition to the new breed of computer wargames.

MACHINE: Spectrum/CBM 64
SUPPLIER: Argus Press Software
PRICE: £9.99

Many of the war games released for computers are based on real historical incidents. But how accurate are the games? C+VG decided to put The Bulge the Battle for Antwerp to the test.

We asked Dr Stephen Badsey, formerly of the Imperial War Museum and now working as a researcher on the BBC's Soldiers series, to give his expert opinion. The Bulge based on the German offensive in the Ardennes in 1944, is less than half-way to being a good wargame... It is up to the player to supply the other half.

While, as Argus rightly say, the "traditional wargame sometimes puts you in the position of a god rather than a Field Marshall" (sic - their booklet has a number of spelling errors) the computer program can conceal information from the players in the same realistic "fog of war" which surrounded real commanders. The drawback is that, whereas a non-computer wargame can be altered or improvised, the finished program on tape cannot be improved upon by the player - it must be perfect.

This is what Argus claim to have done with The Bulge, and sadly they have not delivered. The fundamental problem is one of game construction. Often, as with The Bulge, a program mechanism is written first and applied to a historical event later. What is far more difficult is to find out what happened in the historical event, isolate those points which made it different from any other event, and find mechanisms to bring this out for the player.

The Ardennes offensive was launched through Hitler's belief that the Anglo-American-Russian alliance was fundamentally unstable. Its object was to drive through to the coast at Antwerp, cutting off the British and Canadian forces which would then (somehow) be destroyed. The Western Allies would collapse, negotiate a separate peace, and leave Germany free to deal with Russia alone. The Bulge's briefing booklet describes this plan as "sound, although ambitious". No senior commander on either side thought so.

The Germans rapidly modified Hitler's masterplan, at first tacitly and then openly, into the "Small Solution", a double envelopment of American forces easy of the River Meuse, which was the best they could hope to achieve.

Their problems were first the secret assembly and supplyiong of seven armoured and thirteen infantry divisions from an army short of fuel and equipment, and then how to overcome the powerful artillery and airforce which the Americans used to compensate for their inferior infantry and armour. The chief American problem was in identifying the nature of the German threat.

The main reason for the initial surprise and success of the offensive was that it simply did not make sense as an operation of war.

It was bound to fail, and it did. General Patton at least wanted to offer no defence to the first German penetration, letting them over-extend and improving the American chance of destroying them completely.

The Bulge, in which the player takes either side against the computer - or another player with linked Spectrums - replicates the initial surprise by permitting the Allies no initial orders for their forces, and thereafter places, rightly, its greatest stress on the intelligence battle, encouraging the player to interpret its brief reports and issue orders accordingly.

Unfortunately , the player is told far too much. Whereas the real battle was fought in a state of intelligence confusion, the game provides the player with the complete order of battle, including reinforcements, for both sides, while in its course the name, strength and status of both friendly and enemy units is automatically and accurately given when desired.

Even worse, the German player is told that "if the fuel depot at Spar" (sic again, and it was not Spa but near La Gleize) is not captured all German units move and fight at half strength". In fact Kampfgruppe Peiper, which nearly stumbled on the depot was unaware of its existence throughout the battle. Moreover, had the fuel fallen into German hands it could not easily have been distributed to their entire force.

In the real battle of the Bulge - like every other battle - units got lost, reported enemy where there were none, exaggerated or underestimated their own peril, blundered into each other, were shot at by their own side and turned up in exactly the right place by purest accident. None of this happens in The Bulge.

At the same time the player is told too little of what a real general would know. Two simultaneous levels of command are offered. A strategic map shows the area from the German frontier to the River Meuse (the Sambre in the booklet), approximately the operational area of the U.S. First Army, on which units of both sides are shown moving. The player jumps from this to a tactical map of a few kilometres in which specific units fight the enemy.

On the general map - which still does not cover the whole area without scrolling - military units are shown as NATO standard symbols, but no orders can be given to them.

This double command level means that the game is weakest. The Allied artillery, their most important weapon, is factored in to their units' strength (although, oddly, German artillery is shown as distinct units). The German S.S. units are given greater fighting power because of their few King Tiger tanks.

In most cases these were far to the rear of the column, while U.S. tankman, who saw Tigers everywhere, showed a marked reluctance to engage any German armour.

The game neither enforces nor requires units to keep formation or present a solid front, both of which are major problems in a real battle.

Despite the stress placed by the game on intelligence in noting the position of friendly and enemy units the designation they are given by the program isoften confusingly inaccurate. Combat Command "A" of 9 Armoured Division is described as "9 CCA Regiment".

Most of these objections can be overcome by organising the game for more than one player. The game controller, with access to the computer, would pass limited information to the strategic player, sitting with his own map but without knowledge of the enemy order of battle.

A third player might be given access to the tactical map to fight the battles. In this way the advantages of the computer program in book-keeping and movement would be maximised, and its shortcomings in historical realism minimised.

But to play the game properly it is necessary to draw and keep one's own maps, and note movement and losses on paper. This is exactly the kind of book-keeping that computer program is meant to render obsolete, and after a while the good player will abandon the program to carry on the game himself by more conventional methods. The Bulge is fun, and highly playable if the events it is meant to represent are ignored.

The victory criteria in The Bulge program are based chiefly on a notional points value of towns on the strategic map held or captured. This also must be changed to provide a realistic wargame.

Given that the breakthrough to Anterp was not feasible, the only object of the offensive for either side was the inflicting of enemy casualties: the Germans in their original hope of weakening or breaking the Western Allies, and the Allies in easing their crossing of the Rhine in the spring.

In the event, the Germans succeeded just enough for the Allies to request an early offensive in the East by the Red Army.

Far from strengthening Germany's hand against Russia the legacy of The Bulge was Russian - rather than American tanks in Berlin.

Spectrum/CBM-64
Lothlorien/ASP
£9.99
Wargame

After the bouquets last month for Arnhem from CCS, it's time for the brickbats. To say that this is an improvement on Lothlorien's previous effort, Panzer Attack, would be true but would be no recommendation. It is in real time, and as the German commander, you simply haven't got time to issue all the orders you need to. As the game progresses and units get spread far and wide, you spend most of your time chasing round the map after errant units. Any bulge game which doesn't feature roads is doomed to failure.

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.