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When a program for a ZX81 has a cassette cover that claims resolution identical to the Spectrum without any additional hardware you will probably be a little concerned about the truthfulness of such a statement, but Software Farm's game Forty Niner lives up to their claim giving full high resolution graphics.

The game takes place in the 1849 Great American Gold Rush and our hero has rushed to the west coast to make his fortune. You must collect as many gold nuggets as you can while avoiding the hazards of the mine.

Any normal person would have picked a mine with ordinary dangers, like rockfalls, but as ever our character had to pick one inhabited by strange monsters.

The first monster that any explorer will encounter is the Gremlin. This is a very cute looking 'mouth on legs' who bounces away on the surface eating away at your waste earth pile trying to reach the entrance to your mine. Once it does there is no escape.

Next you face the Giant Rats which are truly intimidating, wagging their tails as they hunt you around the mine. They can even dig through the soil, suddenly jumping out in front of you - then you're a goner.

Your miner does have some unlikely allies though. He can free snakes who will then wiggle their way to the surface killing any rats they meet on their way. He can also knock out a support causing a small cave-in to block the vicious vermin.

Software Farm allow you to choose your own keys to play the game. There are five controls in all: up, down, left, right and knock out a support. In practice I found it better to rely on the snakes to kill the rats - because if you knock out a support the rockfall occurs in front of you and you usually end up running over it yourself.

Forty Niner is definitely a program that shows what your ZX81 can really do and deserves one of those "I had to keep going back for more" ratings. I wonder when the Spectrum version with sound and colour will make an appearance...