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Despite being in the middle of the Pacific ocean you can stay remarkably dry with Categ-Oric, which apart from being a clever title has nothing to do with the game.

In your unspecified warship, you have to cruise around the sea looking for submarines and ships to sink while trying to stay intact yourself. To aid you in your task you have five main controls.

Pilotage shows you your speed, direction, asdic, radar and pump situation. A more detailed account of your ship's status is also available, telling you what enemy shipping you have sunk so far and what slate your own vessel is in.

Larger, more informative displays of your asdic (submarine locator) and radar can be used to target your weapons on the enemy.

You can use depth charges and grenades on submarines and cannon on other ships. You can also blast planes out of the sky with your machine guns.

For subs and ships you first need to find the enemy vessels' coordinates via the asdic or radar and then launch your attack, which in the case of the ships also has to be targeted by a screen cursor. You can come under fire from all the opposition and, if hit by a sub's torpedoes, you need to quickly get to your bailing and fire pumps to save the ship. Four leaks or four fires and you'll be on your way to the bottom.

The game is very fast moving and much quicker than even a real time simulation, so there's always plenty of action. Unfortunately, it is sometimes too fast and you have little chance to intervene as you are sunk yet again.

The sound effects are loud and distinctive and add to the pressure of the game.

All in all, if you've got a limited amount of money, there are better games around.

I liked the sound on this game - the asdic and radar noises were very realistic. The graphics weren't bad either. But I didn't find it too playable. There were a lot of things to do, but they all happened so quickly that I didn't feel I had a real chance of taking on the enemy and winning.

Still, it's just about the only Hunter Killer-style game on the machine, and I suspect that seven years before the mast might give you a better chance of pronging a submarine.

What was slightly annoying was that both parties couldn't shoot at the same time. You had to wait your turn and then see whether you were hit or not.

I found it extremely difficult to shoot boats and planes using the radar facility, but the subs are easy targets, indicated on the asdic by depth and direction.

Unfortunately, the general situation board is on a pink background with green writing and is totally unintelligible, so I can't offer my opinion on that one.

The basic concept of the game would have been OK if it had been executed better, but, as it is, forget it.