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A game of intrigue and wits for the 48K Spectrum. Produced by Silversoft, we should expect an arcade quality game, but do we have it?

First of all, a minus. In these days of first impressions, etc, etc, etc, an introductory screen is very important. It not only makes the waiting for the program to load acceptable, but it also impresses the player with a taste of the game to follow.

This game has got various screens, although I only managed to progress to the second, but perhaps those with nimble fingers or joysticks should get onto more.

You are a spider with only six legs - I suppose the Spectrum's graphics handling made the decision on the last two! - and are faced initially with a grid, which turns into a random maze after the computer has knocked out various holes.

In the first screen there are acorns and mushrooms along the path of the maze with the letters ZX hanging around the screen. Your task is to gather all the ZX's in order to get to the next level. Pacmen have been sent in order to prevent you from doing this and they have been well trained in their mission.

You can change the paths of the maze by forcing the acorns to form different paths, but you need to be careful not to force an acorn onto a ZX or a Pacman as you will lose a life.

The first screen is very hard to master at first, but once you get the idea it is very hard to stop playing. You need to design your own way of approach, but I decided to block out the opposing pacmen in the first screen, by moving the wall and then gathering the ZX's.

The same idea is on screen 2, but there are Arctic Jellyfish instead of Pacmen and this time you have to cover all the blue ground on the screen (ice), but as you still in the maze, you can move walls, etc.

If the first two screens are anything to go by, the rest should be very good. I am still trying to get onto screen 3.

There is quite a bad point in that, between each new attempt, there is a delay while you are introduced to Pacmen, Jellyfish, etc, and the name of the next screen, but this should not hinder your excitement.

Hyperaction is an excellent and original arcade game, with Sinclair, Cursor and Kempston joystick compatibility.