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A good villain doesn't give up easily - supposedly dead, the evil Dr Megalomann (he'd hardly be Dr Barnardo with a name like that) returns to offer the President of the USA an ultimatum: hand over his power to the mad doctor, or see the world plunged into mayhem.

If Megalomann doesn't get his way, he's going to throw a terrifying tantrum and launch a missile carrying a deadly virus.

The mad Doctor's desert headquarters consists of three cylinders, one inside the other - forming the Doom Tube. Each cylinder is divided into decks (levels), with each deck subdivided into quadrants (rooms). And an elevator, the Orbivator, runs between cylinders.

But it's not all plain Orbivating if you want to save the world. The virus has spread into the quadrants - some are more poisonous than others - and though Captain America has been injected with a protective serum, if a quadrant is too toxic it will kill him.

The serum that keeps Captain America safe is only temporarily effective, but the ingredients to make more can be produced in the converter quadrant - if Captain America can get that far.

The converter is activated by touching certain wall panels and placing sufficient quantities of Yin and Yang, the essential components of the vital vaccine, in receiver plates. Yin and Yang can be obtained by blasting a doom pod found in one of the quadrants.

Captain America may be the pinnacle of physical perfection, but these 240 pounds of pure athletic beefcake cannot go it alone, so the good Captain carries a virtually indestructible shield. With this he can deflect all projectiles and nearly all energy beams - save for psion energy, which unfortunately he finds within the Doom Tube.

And in some rooms rotators rove through the air, sending out lethal beams. But on destruction these rotators release a code word which can be helpful in accessing later areas of the Doom Tube.

If Captain America can reach the Doom Tube's final deck, perhaps he can disarm the missile and save the world - but the game is played in real time, and you have just an hour before Megolamann's deadly deadline.

Joysticks: Cursor. Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: colourful but poorly-defined characters
Sound: tune, poor effects, song - Who's Crying Now-from obscure band Resister on side two as marketing gimmick (in mono)

'I used to think Captain America was the square-jawed, strong, handsome, young American comic-strip hero who always won - but the big brave image of this superhero was tragically shattered by GO!'s licensed game. The playing area is cramped, though the graphics are quite detailed, and the only really good thing is the tune - otherwise Captain America strays too far from the spirit of the comic-book hero.'

'Graphically Captain America is only average; it's well-drawn, but the colours used are garish and annoying, and harsh contrasts make gameplay a bit confusing. A bit of interesting black comedy puts more spice into the game than the limp Resister soundtrack does, but a couple of good jokes don 't justify this kind of price. If you want to save America from a slow, agonising end, that's up to you; if you want to do it by playing this game, forget it.'