Step in for Daley Thompson

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Ever fancied stepping into Daley Thompson's shoes and competing in the Olympic games? Now is your chance.

In Olympic Decathlon from Alligata Software you can try your hand at the 10 events of the decathlon.

The crowds look on, the flags wave in the wind and a merry little ditty plays while you decide which events to tackle.

In the 100 metre sprint you compete against another athlete, though you must beat the qualifying time to get to the next event. If you beat the world record a message of congratul ations appears on the screen. Later there are both 400 metre and 1500 metre runs.

In the long jump you run up to the board and press jump at the last possible moment. Leave it too late and you get a foul - three fouls and you're out of the games.

The longer you hold the jump button down, the greater will be the angle of your jump.

Now for the shot putt, where you control when the athlete throws the shot and at what angle. To throw the javelin you run up to the line and throw at the last possible moment. The hurdles, pole vault and high jump provide the added require ment ofjumping to perfection as well as running.

The program is disc based and loads each event separately.

This allows for features previously not seen on a BBC Micro because of lack of memory. The graphics are stunning and the animation is some of the best I've seen. Sound is sparse but adequate. Control is by keyboard or joystick, though I found key board easier because you can define the keys.

The game is easy to play but difficult to master. In my opinion this is one of the best games of its type and considerably less tiring than the real thing.

Phil Tudor