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I don't know what it is about the Atari ST and the Amiga, but most of the programmers coding away on their 16 bit dream machines seem determined to produce games with solid line-filled 3D graphics.

First there was Starglider II, then Elite for the ST. Damocles looks as if it will go down this route, Image Works is polishing up Interphase for launch next year and now Electronic Arts enters the arena with a solid filled gizmo called Power Drome.

There is nothing particularly wrong with this. Most of the games mentioned above are, or look as if they will be, brilliant. It's just that solid filled 3D graphics was just one of the things we were promised by the coders when the ST and the Amiga first arrived on the scene and they were all drooling over their capabilities. We were also promised digitised speech, sampled sounds, multi-tasking and a host of other things.

I am not being funny or anything - but we honestly don't need too much more solid filled 3D "gosh what a fast routine", "state of the art" "really shows what a 16-bit machine can do" type of thinking. Time for a bit of originality, m'thinks.

Now that I've got that off my chest, I'll tell you about Power Drome - and it really is quite good.

You enter a future world grand prix. Not racing cars but sleek looking hover jets. The first thing that strikes you is the quality of the graphics. Programmer Nick Powell has done a superb job of the racing tracks, Typhoon jets and pit stops.

Using a mouse or joystick you have to negotiate the twisting corridors, tunnels, bridges of Power Drome as you seek to secure the Cyberneufe Trophy.

The championship is spread over six races on six different planets - all with different atmospheric conditions. Your fuel and ship equipment has to be modified accordingly.

Scenario and ship customising screens apart this game is really about flight control and racing.

It really is quite difficult to fly the ship. It will take you a good deal of practice - flying in practice mode with the altitude control on auto-pilot. This will enable you to learn how to bank and take corners. Only when you have mastered this can you start to squeeze the accelerator and start to dip and climb.

The difficulty of control is not a flaw. It is tough because you have a great deal of control over the ship and the response on mouse or joystick is highly sensitive.

I preferred to use the joystick but this does make life even more difficult when you need an extra hand to cut the engines and implement other manoeuvres which require you to tap certain keys on the computer.

Another slight gripe is that the game can appear less like a race and more like a solo flight against the clock. This impression is created by the fact that there are only four other racers out there - and some of the tracks are massive. You can quite often lose the other pilots right at the beginning of the race if you are a bit tasty - or more often than not they will lose you and glimpse them every so often as they lap you.

A race ends when a pilot completes the set number of laps. The race may end for you sooner than this though if your ship becomes too badly damaged and you cannot make it back for repair.

The ship sustains damage mainly by crashing into the walls of the tracks or by colliding with other Typhoons.

Power Drome is full of neat graphical frills. You discover more and more of them as you play. Most impressive of these is the bit in the pits as the damaged wings and engines are pulled away from the Typhoon and replaced by new ones. It's all carried out by pressing buttons on the keyboard to make the repair droid do his work.

There is also some stunning forked lightning on one of the planets and a graphical touch was the shadow of other Typhoon's passing across the ground after my craft had nose dived.

Sound effects are well implemented. Nice wind sounds, thunderclaps, and whooshing of Typhoons as they approach and disappear into the distance.

This is one of EA's first home-produced games. It has taken a long time to produce - and the other versions will take still longer - but is a quality piece of software.

It lacks the depth of gameplay of something like Carrier Command or Captain Blood but then it is easier to get in to (apart from the flight control) and has a good storyline and extremely thorough manual.

The bottom line for Power Drome is that it is a good 3D style racing game for the ST and Amiga and as there aren't many games around that fit this description I can recommend it thoroughly. You won't be disappointed if you fork out for it.