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I was quite surprised to receive Alex Higgins' World Snooker from Amsoft as they have already got one snooker game in their collection. I was then even more surprised when I loaded the program and found that I was faced with the same game - well, almost!

Amsoft have taken their original competent program and spiced it up a little. The game follows all the rules of snooker and can be played with a choice of 6, 10 or 15 red balls. A practice option is also included; the user being allowed to wander round the table potting the balls and amassing phenomenal breaks (ha ha).

The first difference that you will notice is the excellent picture of the Irishman himself which is displayed during loading. The second enhancement can only be taken advantage of by the more affluent amongst you. If you have purchased the Amstrad speech synthesiser, or even the DK'Tronics system, then you can enjoy the scores and prompts being called out by an Irish dalek.

The operation of the program itself has also been improved. In the original game the cursor, with which you set the direction of the shot, was represented by a flashing white dot. This was quite difficult to place accurately. In the new game, the cursor is a flashing circle which is the same size as the cue ball. Finally, you will find that all of the games controls react 100% faster to your commands.

The Higgins' version of the game is a definite improvement over the original program - but I still couldn't make the balls jump off the table like he does!

J. R.