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If you're after a good game for that Vic you got for Christmas then this is certainly worth a look.

Four Gates To Freedom is another in the action/adventure series from Phoenix Software. The game comes on two separate cassettes with an arcade-type action game on one and an adventure on the other.

The catch is that you need a password to load the adventure, and you can only get this by reaching the highest level on the action game!

The action part of Four Gates is impressive. There is a wall at the top of the screen which is built in five-bar gate fashion. Above that is another wall and beyond that are the four gates to freedom.

The idea is to break through both walls in Breakout style, avoiding aliens and also the falling debris from the wall.

Between the two walls lurks an extra meanie, so the game gets harder after you've created a gap in the first barrier, as he escapes through the hole. He cannot be destroyed with your cannon.

The action in the game is very fast. If your trigger finger can handle it, you can fire quite a few times a second. The graphics are not superb, but are adequate for the game.

Overall, it's great and very fast. But it may take some time, not to mention eye strain, to reach the highest level and get the password for the adventure.

Once you have the password - no I didn't finish the action, but I've got friends at Phoenix - you can load the adventure.

When it has loaded and the password has been entered, the title screen welcomes you and challenges you to 'solve' the adventure! You'd think that they could check the spelling.

You start off outside a metal gate and your only exit is South. Problem is that you need a password to get through the exit which I hadn't been given.

Not only do you get the loading code from the action game, you also get quite a few clues flashed on the screen during play. One of these, I assume, is the password to get through the gate.

If you'd like to try this for yourself, you'll need a Vic with a 16K RAM pack. Phoenix Software is based in Pinner - you'll pay £9.95 for the twin pack, which can't be bad.