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Have you ever paddled a canoe? Well, the control movement in Shoot The Rapids is fairly true to life. My wrist hurt after half an hour's paddling.

It's this control movement that makes the game stand out. You rock the joystick from side to side like a paddling action. Hold down the fire button and change to backwards paddle. Rock to one side only and paddling one side only turns the canoe. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard, and define which keys for left paddle, right paddle and reverse. Actually, I found this easier.

So off you set, being carried downstream by the current, trying to negotiate your way through the slalom gates. Completion with the time limit puts you onto the next river. There are five rivers, with an increasing number of obstacles - rocks, speedboats and beavers, not to mention the river banks. Your objective is to set record times on each course.

It's a good idea, but unfortunately the graphics aren't special and apart from the paddle action, there's nothing to make it outstanding.

B.J.