They're tough, they're mean, they're nasty, they're on the latest compilation from Zeppelin Games. This pack incorporates four tough and hard hitting action games (apparently). All of which are a bit different.

Spaghetti Western involves a cowboy western town (oddly enough) in trouble. People are being shot, trains are being robbed and horses are having their drinking water pilfered. And so you, the hardest and craziest sheriff palookaville, get hired to sort the whole mess out.

SW essentially involves cleaning up the town jail and all the bad guys before finally returning home, having collected lots of bounty, for some good old fashioned western steaks.

The task's are not easy though and you'll find all manner of obstacles barring your path to success your success, ranging from gunslingers to flying... things(?!)

Spaghetti Western is graphically quite impressive, with very large clear sprites. Sound is a tad sparse but the effects are pretty smart. The only bad thing about it's playability is that it can be a touch unresponsive. Still a fun game though.

Upon loading Kick Box Vigilante you discover that certain people have begun to doubt your fighting skills and, more to the point, have taken to calling you a bit of a tart. So in order to prove them wrong and also because you think it'll be a bit of a laugh you decide to accept an invitation to prove yourself at their martial arts temple.

Four top fighters block your path to the land of smartness but I really don't think you'll ever want to go there as, yawn, there is a distinct lack of gameplay in this low kicking ninja blast. KBV isn't challenging at all and the lack of detailed moves make it dull and very short lived.

All the mysteries of the ancient orient have been instilled into a lethal killer and roid and now it's your job to guide him across various horizontally scrolling landscapes killing anything in your path. This is the sort of fare offered by Bionic Ninja. You can kick, punch or just pick up a club and bludgeon your enemies to death.

Again we have some large, well drawn sprites, this time accompanied with good sounds and oodles of playability. Suffice to say, this is one of the winner on a compilation of doom.

Last but not least you're a Ninja Commando, so tough that a delegation from your local darts club have bet you a large sum of money that you can't make it across eight horizontally scrolling landscapes, kill loads of people and still come back alive.

Being the kind of person you are (not to mention the fact that you're skint) you accept. At first you can only kill enemies by jumping on them but certain stiffs drop weapons such as shurikens and bombs that can be used to kill even more. Good Luck, you'll need it.

Unfortunately the backgrounds and the main sprites look so similar you can't distinguish between the two so this game ultimately becomes very frustrating. Oh well C'est la vie.

Combat Pack 3 is a combination of four not-very-good games on one cassette all for £3.99. As such it does represent moderate value if you're after a bit of fisticuffs and gunslinging amusement. Not for perfectionists though.

Label: Zeppelin Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Ed Laurence

Mmmm. Not a bad compilation. With two goodish games, an okay one and a duff one, Combat Pack is a reasonably attractive option. However I wouldn't go for it if you have your eyes one something reliably better - even if it's only a single game release.