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Arena is the latest game from the long established software house Lothlorien. Tolkien fans will also remember Lothlorien from The Lord Of The Rings, as one of the mythical lands in Middle Earth - (I just thought I'd mention that, having just seen the film on telly and thought "Gosh! So that's where they got the name from!") - but back to the plot.

Lothlorien have been quiet recently, their last game came out some months ago, and Arena is the result. The game is broadly based on the Battlezone type of scenario, 3D tanks etc, but with a whole lot more included.

Let me set the scene. It is the latter half of the 21st century. The planets of this and further solar systems are colonised. The threat of using this high technology to resolve an earthbound conflict worried most people (in a similar way to the nuclear overkill situation today) so the "Arena laws" were passed. This meant that returning space fleets were not allowed into the solar system, war was abolished, and a system of resolving disputes in the arena was developed. Opposing sides would battle it out in tanks in a massive battle area on the coast of Sweden.

One champion from each side would control a command tank with five other slave tanks. The previous English champion was creamed by the Welsh during an earlier bout, it is up to you to restore honour...

The game is a pseudo-strategy game that will give the strategists amongst us a good run but not get too boring for the rest of the assembled game-playing fraternity.

There are two screen modes in the game, one is arena mode, where you can see a portion of the arena from a bird's eye view, and, the other is battle mode, which is like Battlezone - but more about that later.

Arena mode is where you will spend most of your time. This is where you can see the status of all your tanks, some of the enemy tanks and give out the appropriate orders, and work out the ways to eliminate the bad guys.

The game is icon-driven, with all available options being represented by little pictures, and a joystick driven cross can be used to choose which will be the lucky instructions to be used.

There are five status icons: Ammo - gives the ammo level for the current tank, Position - a road map of the arena with your current tank positions marked, Radar - flashes if any of your tanks if picking up a signal, Damage - how badly off your current tank is, and Status - this tells you what your currently selected tank is up to.

You will notice my use of the phrase 'currently selected tank'. This is because you can only instruct one tank at a time - though all the other tanks can be carrying out already pre-defined orders. To select a tank, you position your cross on one of the tank icons (six of them from one to six along the bottom of the screen).

Once you have selected your tank, you can instruct it with one of the five instruction icons. They are: Drop Mine - this is only applicable to the type of tank that carries mines; selecting this will drop a mine in the current position, though don't hang about too long or you'll get hit instead. Battler - this selects the route icon as to and Overland are used with the movement icon. Selecting the movement icon freezes all the action and allows the tank to be directed at a destination.

To do this, you select move, and a square will appear on the map. Move the square to the desired position, and press fire. The action will then recommence, and you must select the route icon as to whether you want the tank to move overland (more direct, but can be slow for some tanks) or by road (fast, but indirect and can get congested).

The tank will then plod on relentlessly towards that spot. Meanwhile, you can get back to doing other things. Whilst your tank is moving, its icon will flash, so you know what is happening.

On contact with the enemy, the radar icon will flash and you must check all your tanks in turn (selecting a tank icon causes it, and its near area to be thrown up on the screen). If an enemy tank is in line of sight with one of yours (i.e. no trees, hills, or buildings in the way) then he will appear on the screen as well as yours.

Alternatively, you may find out about him when the message "Tank number 4 under attack", but by that stage it is usually a bit late as your solitary armoured car is obliterated by five enemy tank destroyers!

If you do spot an enemy fairly close, then plot a path to him with one of the route icons - wait until you get real close (perhaps dropping a few mines for good measure) - then select Battle mode, Battle mode gives you 3D wire graphic picture of the surrounding area of your tank including all trees and buildings (good for hiding behind).

The direction indicator and radar scope come into play now, so that you can see some distance. Once you have found your target, it is time to battle.

All tanks carry ten shells, but tanks have different weaponry and armour - so don't be surprised if two hits from Welsh tank destroyer will wipe out, whilst ten direct hits from your hovertank don't so much as scratch his paintwork.

The battle sequences are very similar to Battlezone, except that only two tanks can be controlled at any one time. So occasionally, you can find a non-moving tank, which will be a sitting duck. Mind you, whilst you are eliminating it and using up all your precious ammo, the real (moving) baddy will be coming up your tail.

There are a number of different arenas, with differing roads, rivers and ammo dumps, and four different types of tank - though you can't have a mixed group of tanks. These range from the previously mentioned heavy tank, to the light and hover tank, which manoeuvre well, to the radar transparent stealth tank.

To sum up, this is one of the best tactical (rater than the overused phrase 'strategy') games that I have seen on the Spectrum. And I am looking forward to when it gets brought out on one of the more advanced machines - then it should be incredible!