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DALEY TAKES THE GOLD

OCEAN continues its policy of bringing out amusement arcade games under license with a superb version of the popular Track and Field, entitled Daley Thompson's Decathlon. All ten events are represented, and played with dedication the full game is a gruelling exercise indeed.

The graphics are large and colourful. Each event has a qualifying time, and the 10 are split over two days, one on each side of the cassette. If you fail to qualify three times then you are out for the day. If you successfully complete the first day, you can go round again with higher qualifying times until your three lives are gone.

Some of the events are very tough, particularly the 400m sprint. In order to qualify you must pump the joystick backwards and forwards as fast as you can to maintain speed. After about 200m the wall of pain sets in. By a cruel trick, the 400m is the last event of the first day and the 100m is the first, so if you are still in the game you will immediately have to race the 100m just when your arm is ready to drop off.

The second day is more gentle, winding up with the 1500m which requires strategy and restraint if you are not to run out of energy too soon. All the events are reasonably easy to play, apart from the high jump, which appears next to impossible. Getting a decent score is, of course, another matter.

Arcade conversions do not always work on the small screen. Daley Thompson's Decathlon is an exception, and captures the spirit of the competition.

Chris Bourne

Memory: 48K Price: £6.90 Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair