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Olympiad '86 is a kind of budget Decathlon. And you get what you pay for.

There are five 'events' in Olympiad, all of which can be completed with your little finger.

Three of the events use a speed/strength clock. A second hand glides round the dial and when it gets to the arrow at the top of the clock you press the Q key to acquire speed and strength. This decides how good your lift is in the weight-lifting competition, for example. Hit the Q too soon, or too late and your lift is judged as bad and a bi-plane flies a 'Rubbish' message over the stadium.

The 200m sprint - which is more of a crawl - uses a similar clock technique. There are two horizontal indicators on the screen. The first shows the distance you need to cover while the second indicates your speed. To increase speed you keep hitting the Q key when the clock hand reaches the 12 o'clock arrow.

You use two clocks for scoring in discus. The first clock determines the power of your throw, a second judges the angle.

Canoeing is fun. Your canoe drifts down from the top of the screen and you use the O and P keys to steer it away from the blobish white rocks in the middle of the river's rapids.

Shooting consists of two dead trees, a cross-hair sight and skeets which look like fat javelins. The only tip I can give is to find a point on the screen through which both left and right skeets always fly and position your sight there.

Okay, so Olympiad '86 is a budget game, but that's no longer a good enough excuse for putting out this standard of programming.

Label: Atlantis Author: In house Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K Reviewer: John Gilbert

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Back to the age when graphics were miraculous if they didn't look like Space Invaders and scrolling was hip.