VAST SCOPE

MAKER: ISP
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £17.95

Don't be fooled by the "Games Designer" tag plastered across the packaging of Scope 2, this beautifully structured utility is quite unlike menu driven customisers such as Melbourne House's Hurg and Software Studio's Games Designer. It's a far more useful medium-level language dedicated purely towards the manipulation of high-speed graphics, sound and animation. And the beauty of the system is that code generated by Scope 2 will run independently of its mother tongue. The perfect tool for frustrated games writers! What's more it's exceptionally accessible! You've a mere 36 command words to master which, once written into Basic REM statements, can be instantly compiled into machine code using a simple USR call. Of course experienced m/code hackers will bemoan the system's limitations but others will find it a genuine boon.

Scope 2 itself appears remarkably clean. The only bug I came across was its total refusal to recognise the NOTE command, Scope's equivalent to the REM statement. But that's a small price to pay. The package is completed by a useful sprite designer routine and some simple Scope 2 listings. With this and Gilsoft's The Ouill the Spectrum games market has been blown apart. Owners of the original Scope should upgrade immediately. Great stuff!