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The first time I tried playing this game was in the shop where I bought it (the only time I've played it using a joystick). Anyway, the program loaded an excellent display of a man skidding round a corner on a motorbike. "Looks good," I thought.

After a total loading time of about a minute, the computer started making the usual "beeping" noises, i.e similar to those at the beginning of Hungry Horace.

The screen for the game itself was split into two. The bottom half being green, and the top half being either blue (cyan), or black according to whether it was day or night, with all the intermediate colours i.e. dark blue, red, etc, between patrols. In the middle of the bottom of the screen is the handlebars of a motorbike and two arms. On the horizon are a couple of trees.

Before I go any further I will tell you the story so far. "It is 2501, 100 years after The Great War. The North American continent is ruled by mighty warlords in constant conflict over forest territory. You are one of the elite mercenaries, Riders of the Big Bikes. It's a quick way to get rich - and a quicker way to die. 'Surprise, surprise!' You patrol your forest day and night, chasing enemy Riders and destroying them with your guided photon bolts for $1000 a time. You may find helicopters and tanks too - your masters reward you particularly well if you destroy these."

Anyway, enough of the babble, how about the game itself?

You can use either a Kempston joystick or the keyboard to play. However, there are only three basic commands while playing the game, left, right and fire.

There is also accelerate and decelerate, but I only ever used accelerate, and that only at the beginning of each patrol. As you start the game the computer makes an attempt at imitating the sound of a motorbike and the trees start moving towards you in 3D. There are also two other motorbikes and sometimes a helicopter which flies from left to right cross the horizon or sometimes a tank. The aim of the game is to get through eight sectors of forest, doing a day and night patrol in each. The game gets progressively harder as you go further on by adding more and more trees. In each patrol you must shoot the two motorbikes. However, you can only fire when at top speed and you have to wait about twenty seconds going at full speed and avoiding trees before they come into range. Shooting tanks and helicopters gets you bonus money.

As the literature itself says, "The greatest reward is for the Rider who can penetrate eight sectors - you will need every ounce of skill to found out". Obviously I haven't enough ounces of skill, becauses although I have had the program about a month now (and I constantly play it!) I still haven't finished the eighth sector.

On the whole I found the program almost terrifyingly realistic, even if the storyline wasn't so good.

It was quite reasonably priced for such a good program at £6.95. The screen graphics were excellent and very smooth. The instructions for loading were so simple that anyone could use them.

I would say that Death Chase is a must for anyone wanting an extremely realistic 3D game which is also a challenge, and good value for money!