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Launched on the Commodore 64 some time ago, Barry McGuigan's Boxing is computer of those games that have been awaited with much interest by Amstrad owners.

The game is based on the series of fights that a boxer will have to go through to reach the world championship. To begin with, you have to select certain characteristics for your man - name, race, colour of hair, kit colours, nature (erratic, calm, etc) and his style of fighting.

After this you go onto the top twenty board where the 20 fighters in the series are. You can then select to fight someone up to two ranks ahead of you. You can then see his and your fitness status so that when it comes to the training sessions you know which areas to concentrate on - stamina, strength, endurance, etc.

You only have a certain amount of time before the fight to bring up your fitness on these areas so it is worth thinking about what you are doing when you select which of the training aids should be concentrated on.

After this comes the fight. There are nine different moves that you can make - seven attacks and two defences. These range from long distance punches without the fire button being pressed, to close in stuff with the button down.

This part of the game is very good, the computer opponents are excellently thought out and don't just stagger about like in the Amsoft Boxing game. In between each round you can see what your and your opponent's status is and what to concentrate on.

Whether you win or lose, you win an amount of money and the chance to move up the rankings to become a contender or even take the championship itself.