On this tape are three games written by Steve McCarthy, some of which are upgrades of ZX81 games, whilst others are new. the games are as follows: 3D Noughts And Crosses, Towers Of Brahm, Wipe-out and the flagship of the pack, Astro-Wars.

3D Oxo is an obvious game in which there is a four by four by four matrix in which it is necessary to get four in a row in any direction to cin. The only problem being that the layers are separated for display which takes away some of the effect. The computer itself is a pretty formidable opponent. Quite a well-presented thinking person's game.

Secondly, comes Towers Of Brahm, the age-old problem of getting five discs of ascending size from pin one to pin three. Though the principle is simple, the game is fast and colourful. This is an enjoyable game to pay which is more addictive than you might at first expect. User-defined graphics could have been better used; this should not have slowed things down much if at all.

Wipe-Out is the final game on Side A. The title seems to suggest that it may in some way be related to the hoards of space invader 'zip-zap' games, but far from it. This is a two player game, again putting an emphasis on thought. The computer draws a matrix board with its centre and corners made up of squares Xs and Os at the edges, and a grid reference system around it. The first symbol of each game to be 'wiped out' must be a square. Each successive grid reference thereafter specified must be immediately adjacent to the one previously 'wiped ot' by either player. The object is to wipe out as many of either Xs or Os depending on which side you are on. This game is far from simple, though it would be greatly improved if it was possible to play the computer. Graphics are used very sparingly on this, but it is fun if you are into thinking games.

Finally, on Side B we come to Astro Wars which is a complete departure from Side A in that it is a fast action, arcade game. It is an all machine code game in three stages based on the films 'Star Wars and 'Empire Strikes Back'. The overall object being to score as many points as possible, but other objectives and hazards are generated on the way. In stage one you are looking out of your ship and into space and enemy aircraft are moving onto and around the screen. It is possible to destroy them via missiles and a sight which moves about the screen. A discrepancy which is noticeable pretty quickly is the fact that the rays of the missiles seem to go from the target to you, the ship, rather than vice versa. Whether or not you survive this, you are thrust into a long 3D tunnel in which missiles and other objects are projected at you in a 2D plane at the far end. Your task is to survive for six minutes until the Death Star comes into sight, at which time you must try to destroy it. Again, even if you fail on this stage you move onto the final stage, in which Imperial Walkers are coming at you in 3D and enemy aircraft are in the distance. They are both firing at you, which makes life very difficult indeed!

Overall, this game is easily the best on this package. The games are good but not excellent separately, though AstroWars is quite well-written. The documentation is very good and as a pack of four programs it is very good value indeed. I would recommend you to look out for any new stuff written by Steve McCarthy and Precision Engineering, as the quality is definitely improving at a fantastic rate. This tape can be recommended as good value for money.