Your starter of twelve

This package of twelve programs aims to give the new user a start in life. On tape or disc come five utilities including a function key editor, a character definer, a Bad Program recovery unit, an editor and a sound utility.

Moreover there are several games - Starfire, a simple but quite gripping zapping game; Block Blitz - an arcade type; Galactic Invasion - space invaders; Space Lords - a two player game; a good version of Reversi; Four In A Row - Connect Four; and Life; plus Football Krazy and Mars Lander, both for the Electron.

In addition to all of this mixed bag which does contain some really good stuff, there is a handbook of some fifty pages of advice and programming tips, a quick reference guide to practically all those things you need to look up in the User Guide and can never find, a set of screen planners, character planners and function key overlays. The package is well-presented in a library case.

The reason for all these goodies coming together in one package is quite simple. The whole deal has been devised and put together by Beebug from their various magazine articles, reviews, hints and tips and programs. Over the past two years of their existence they have culled the best and most useful information that they consider a beginner will need to help them get started with their BBC Micro or Electron.

This is not to say that the guide is an easy one - it isn't, and I think that they may have fallen gently into the trap of aiming over the user's head if he really is a true beginner. Nonetheless, with perseverance and the use of a bit of common sense this package represents one of the best starter packs that I have seen - mainly due to its variety and the wealth of experience upon which it is built. Well done, Beebugsoft.

Nick Evans