Previous Next

Four sports for the price of one make this indoor compilation of air hockey, darts, ping pong and ten pin bowling a must for joystick athletes.

Air hockey is an unusual game to be computerised but is one of my favourite arcade games and I've spent many an hour smashing my knuckles trying to guide the puck into my opponent's goal. In the actual machine the puck floats on top of a cushion of air that makes it skid at alarming rates around the walled table.

This computerised version of the game on the Spectrum is brilliant and features the smoothest gameplay you're ever likely to find.

Darts, however, has never been a computer favourite but this version is probably one of the best. I found the controls a little difficult to master as they involved timing presses, holds and releases of the fire button to aim the dart, select angle of trajectory *and* power of shot. And, as you let go, the screen display swaps from a close-up of the board to a pub scene.

Your first games will be a complete disaster as dart after dart will miss the board until either the computer wins or you run out of time. Later, with a bit of practice, you'll begin to master the controls and score a few tons and maybe even a maximum 180!

The maximum score in ten-pin bowling is 300 but this is impossible to get in this version of the game. A bug in the otherwise flawless program robs you of your extra shots if you score a strike or a spare in the tenth frame.

Despite this, this is still the best Spectrum ten-pin bowling game around, it gets straight into the action without you having to wait for bowling machines to be reset or for scores to be calculated. But again, the controls are tricky to master a mis-timed fire button press can send you careering down the lane with the ball still stuck in your hand!

Two screens capture the excitement as each shot is aimed using a side view of the bowler as he begins his run up and bowls the ball, hopefully without dropping it on his foot. The screen then changes to a close-up of the pins and above them a picture of a facet mimics your expression as the ball smashes the pins for a strike or falls hopelessly into the gutter.

Finally, Spectrum owners have the added bonus of a fourth event, Ping-Pong - the C64 version only had three games. In this spectrum version of the C64 game, Superstar Ping pong ghost-like bats hover over a highly polished table and smash balls at each other. You can take control of one of these bats to play a fast and furious game of table tennis.

The computer keeps score and provides a ruthless opponent, but can help you by automatically moving the bat for you leaving you to concentrate on hitting the ball.

This compilation is programmed by Choice and marketed by Advance and shows all the hallmarks of the duo that brought you the excellent Hardball baseball game. The attention to detail is incredible - pens and chalk keep the score in the darts and ten pin-bowling and there is even a reflection of the ball on the ping pong table!