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Room Ten may be from the same author who produced Tau Ceti, but this certainly isn't a sequel in any way. Room Ten draws a lot on the scenario that produced Tau Ceti, but the game is in fact a hi-tech development of those old 'pong' (tennis) games. Remember the days when you'd go brain dead watching a white dot bouncing off two bats? Well now it's in 3D and there's a very mean computer opponent to go with it.

This new sport is called 'glyding', and the name of the game comes from the fact that it takes place in room number ten at each Gal Corp leisure complex. The game takes place inside a large rectangular box, and under zero gravity conditions, so that the ball doesn't have a curved trajectory. The two players control transparent bats - one at each end of the box - which have complete freedom of movement around the back walls. The aim is to strike the ball so that it misses the opponent's bat and hits the back wall instead.

The screen is split into two so that each player has a view of the court from behind their back wall. The view moves so that the bat is kept centre-screen, providing a constantly changing perspective of the Court. Every time the ball hits the back wall, it scores five for the player who last hit it, the winner being the first to score 35.

After every point the player who lost gets to serve, and therefore gains the initial advantage. A serve is performed by placing the bat behind the ball and pressing fire. The direction of the serve depends on the positioning of the bat; so the ball can be angled up, down, left or right. The nearer the ball is to the edge of the bat the greater the angle achieved, but also the higher the risk of missing.

The game has quite an impressive 'front end', with many options and scene-setting instructions to help you along. You can choose whether you play the computer or a human opponent, what standard the computer player is, the game speed and the screen colours. There's also a comprehensive key/joystick selection feature; the rules of glyding, an introduction to the Galcorp Leisure Complex, a high score table and a choice of languages.

The graphics move smoothly and look good, particularly when the game is being played at top speed. The computer puts up a good opposition but much the best way to play the game is against another human. The only real disappointment is that there isn't more depth given to the game by having a series of games or different shaped courts, for example. That limitation aside, you'll have plenty of fun with the two player game, trying to follow a bouncing ball as it goes crazy all over the court.

The idea of 3D, zero-gravity pong may not sound like a natural, but this one really works. It's gripping, infuriating stuff, and at top speed can really get quite manic. The split-screen makes for great two-player action, and the computer opponent's no slouch either. Wouldn't have minded a more interesting scoring system, though.

This game just goes to show that the old favourites still have life in them even now. An old idea, but a great perspective and great graphics - and really two player, though the computer is a pretty mean opponent. It's just a shame that they didn't take the idea further.

P. Smooth, fast, 3D graphics.
P. Good computer opponent.
P. Two player option is great fun.
P. Can vary computer skill and game speed.

N. Little depth to the action with just single games.
N. Doesn't have different shaped courts.

There's a colour-changing option, though the default colours were perfectly visible anyway.