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Amid arcade and adventure games, there remains a nebulous area of computer entertainment like noughts-and-crosses and Othello - the strategy games. Inventing a new game in this category must be the hardest task given to anyone; Counter Attack is a very good try.

The game involves a seven by seven vertical grid, into which the players may place their counters. The object is to produce a row of four counters of your own colour (horizontally, vertically or diagonally). This would seem pretty trivial, and far below the level of "serious games players", were it not for the opportunity for each player of shifting a whole row or column of counters by one square up, down, left or right. So the playing area takes on an almost spherical dimension, with players having to watch possibly important pattern changes.

As a computer game the advantage lies in the fact that tedious counter manipulations are carried out automatically, and it is in this way similar to computerised Othello. As an adult, I found the feel of the game rather slow, but I imagine that it will be popular with younger children. A good but not a great game. Needs O.S. 1.2.