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Volleyball comes to the Spectrum! The player controls two volleyball players on a court. The controls are the usual four directions, plus a fire button and two keys to select which player to control. When you are serving, hit the fire key, and a little cross moves away from the player presently under your control. When the fire key is released, the ball travels through the air to wherever the cross was. The computer will then have a go at returning it.

If the ball comes back over the net, you've got to get a player to the point where the ball is going to land, indicated by the cross, and then press and hold the fire button. Once the ball is caught by the player, the cross starts moving away from the player in the direction the player is facing. When the fire key is released, the ball hurtles off to where the cross is...

You can either bash the ball straight over the net, or if you're feeling fancy, pass it to the other player who then bumps it over. This is quite a useful tactic if you only use one player, since the ball only travels in the direction a player is facing, the ball merely gets returned to the opposing player who just hit it.

A good trick is to try to get close to the net and then just bump it over, this usually wins the point. The computer opponent is no slouch: if you get in the lead, it suddenly starts to play a bit better, so just when you thought you had the hang of the game, things get a whole lot harder.

Scoring is simple, you only score a point if you win the point whilst serving, otherwise you just get to serve. The first team to score ten points wins.

Control keys: redefinable up, down, left, right, fire
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: a little disjointed
Use of colour: minimalist
Graphics: stick men, mainly
Sound: not impressive
Skill levels: one
Screens: one

'Being an avid watcher of volleyball, Bump Set Spike aroused more than average interest in me. The monochrome graphics didn't exactly leap out of the screen at me, and the small, badly animated characters don't look particularly good. I hoped it would play better than it looks - it doesn't! Though it does pass as volleyball in the sense that you have to hit a ball over a net, in other aspects, it falls down on realism s0000 much! The ball regularly flies through the net without hindrance, and if you're lucky, you can place the ball in front of the net without any problem. The whole game is pretty bad, even for £2.99.'

'Volleyball always seemed to me to be a very boring sport: the computer simulation is no different. Despite the lack of instructions the game was fairly easy to get into as there are only a limited number of things to do. Once you do figure out the instructions and actually get competent at playing (it took me two goes!) there doesn't really seem to be much point in playing it any more. The graphics although being run-of-the- mill work quite well. The sound on the other hand is awful: there are no tunes, and the effects are minimal. There isn't enough in this game to keep me playing for any length of time. I can't recommend it.'

'Two man Volleyball? But then again never having seen another volleyball simulation, what's to be expected? Well I'll tell you: the graphics are Mr. Simple and the colour, well - there isn't any. The playability is rather awkward to say the least as switching between two players can be very difficult. There is no guarantee, if you manage to get your player on the cross, or what you think is on the cross, that you actually stop the ball. Overall, poor by all standards. Not a very worthy game, even for a budget title.'