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I suppose it was inevitable, and here it is - propaganda by software. This is not a political judgement, merely an objective statement. The CND logo features on the loading screen and the instructions point out that we have the luxury of a four minute warning in the face of the nuclear holocaust.

In the guise of a maze game, you then have four minutes real time to steer your little man about the screen collecting those things needed to survive in your fall-out shelter. Not surprisingly it's difficult, and you fail. You are then confronted by a screen message which makes the assumption you voted for Margaret Thatcher, criticises you for it, then appeals to Reagan not to push the button!

The graphic standard of the game is similarly crude; no provision for joystick, oversensitive response to keys, and jerky movement. I suspect the program is machine code assisted BASIC. As a game, I found it boring; perhaps the standard of a magazine listing of a year ago in terms of sophistication.

As propaganda it fails too, being far too overt. The best propaganda is subtle, and had the authors wanted to actually achieve something in this respect, the concept would have made an ideal vehicle. Happily, they went over the top, and we can see this for what it is. Which makes me ask, if it's so obvious, who's going to buy it in view of its shortcomings as a game? Is it just to confirm a political conviction?

D.M.