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Kempston, the company known mainly for joysticks, has brought out Chicane, a Formula 2 motor-racing simulation game with intelligent opponents, realistic spinning and gear changes, superb 3D effects and six different circuits.

While the game is loading you are presented with the cockpit view to the front of your car, complete with working rear mirrors, scenery backdrop and the option to selectone ofthe six race circuits.

Once you have made your choice of circuits you are ready to qualify, given one lap to gain the qualifying time for the three-lap race.

The racetrack is lined with countdown and direction signs to show the distance and direction of approaching bends. All this looks and sounds quite impressive. However, all that glistens is not gold. The game takes place on a smaller redefined Mode 2 screen.

This provides more colours for less memory, but gives the game a squashed feel.

The scrolling of the track, scenery, and even the instruction prompts are far from smooth.

This poor scrolling got so bad that I found it almost impossible to read the direction signs while racing flat out.

On the plus side, sound is quite good, the opponents quite intelligent, and while racing, if you are in first position, no cars mysteriously appear in front of you as in other games.

Overall, the package is let down by the programmer's trying to make too much happen on too small a screen.

The result is a game that looks pretty but has no lasting payability. I found it far from the simulation the manufacturers claim it to be.

To top it all, the game has unfortunately been released at the same time as Revs, which, despite being twice the price with only one track, is immeasurably superior in almost every respect.

Peter Clifton