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The trouble with a lot of games for the unexpanded Vic is that they look as if they had been written for the unexpanded ZX80, with a bit of colour added for the sake of appearances. Quadrant looks set to change all that. It's a good, fast game with scrolling graphics and endless hordes of aliens.

The program loads in two parts; first, the instructions and then the game itself.

A mountainous landscape scrolls from right to left, with a little man running for his life along the bottom of the screen.

Using the A and D keys you can make him run faster or slower, thereby moving him right and left respectively. He cannot go off the edge of the screen, and every few yards a large crater scrolls beneath him.

You have to help him jump over this by pressing the Return key, otherwise he explodes. You have four lives altogether.

All this on its own would be enough to keep you on the hop, but there is also the small matter of a long-standing disagreement between your little man and the Arcturian Macrobats.

You know who they are, don't you? They're the aliens who have nothing better to do but swoop overhead dropping bombs until you consign them to eternity with a quick jab at the S key.

Unexpanded Vic owners can now stop dreaming about memory add-ons. Buy this game instead.