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What a shock! When this first came out it was regarded as a fine example of programming. A speedy race through the trees against the big bikers, it was reminiscent of the Star Wars forest chase.

Plus ça change... The copyright date for this is 1983 (so long ago?) and it is 'For any Spectrum'. Yes, in those days people still owned 16K midget machines. And yesterday's state of the art is... well, read on!

Not that Deathchase is actually bad. In fact, if you sit close enough to the screen you're sure to be swaying with the motion and wincing as you crash headlong into the mighty oaks.

It's quite addictive, trying to keep up the revs, because you can only blast the enemy with your front firing cannon when you're at top speed, and going for the bonus helicopters and tanks. But underlying this is a sense that it all looks very primitive nowadays.

Maybe some classics would be best left in human memory rather than revived in the micros. Certainly Deathchase would be better priced as a £1.99 classic.