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This is the first conversion for the BBC from US Gold and is probably a marketing exercise to see if the BBC market is worth going into.

If so, Beach Head is probably a mistake. Despite its great success a year ago, nowadays it is a bit long in the tooth and is nothing special as far as games go. Having said this, the implementation on the Beeb, and more so the Electron, is superb.

For the uninitiated, Beach Head is a game, where by going through different stages, you have to destroy a fortress.

The first stage is either a secret entrance full of mines and torpedoes and then a short air battle, or a long air battle by using the main entrance.

In the air battle, aeroplanes come flying towards you and you destroy them with your AA guns in a similar manner to 3D Harrier Attack - for those old enough to remember that! Every one that gets through drops bombs and a ship is lost. You have ten ships in your fleet.

Once 10 or 30 aircraft have been destroyed, you go onto the sea battle. With your ship's heavy guns, you adjust the elevation and fire your shells in a realistic fashion to destroy the ships. Again, they are shooting at you.

After the enemy task force has been destroyed you go onto the actual beach landing. Only four ships can land on the beach, and each ship carries two tanks; these must drive up the obstacle-strewn beach to reach the fortress and knock out its gun ports. There are ten gun ports; you can only hit them when they are open, and they open at random for short times.

After a short while, the main (indestructible) gun on the top of the fortress will shoot you, and it is time for the next tank to try its luck. However, the next time through the defences are harder.

When all the ports have been shot out, a while (Well, yellow) flag is waved in surrender, then fireworks are shot into the sky in celebration (Well, they look like fireworks) then the game ends.

Some people swear by this game. Other people hate it. I think that it is reasonable, but nothing to shout about. However, the implementation of the Electron is very good, and considering the minute amount of software for this machine, the Electron version is a certain buy. As for the BBC version, I think it is up to the individual.