Recently, compilations have been flooding out at a rate of knots, but none can claim to be the games-playing Biz! Ocean has stolen that title once and for all with a bundle of games that will have your monitor in raptures and your joystick quivering in overload.

The Biz is a pack of four titles that were major licences in their own right, three of which stormed the CPC games charts in Christmas/New Year '89/'90. Operation Wolf, R-Type, Batman: The Caped Crusader and Double Dragon are the star games, but the real heroes are the programmers who crammed such great code into home computer systems.

The overall, die-hard, undisputed, best of the bunch [Stop wibbling! - Ed] is Operation Wolf. Taken from the mould-breaking arcade, you get a chance to go ape in the jungle with an Uzi, a bunch of grenades and a whole load of terrorists to kill. Winning is simply a matter of lining up your sights and shooting - or, if you're feeling particularly nasty, lobbing fragmentation bombs about. The bad guys fire back with increasing accuracy, so the aim of the game is ostensibly, 'do unto others before they do unto you'.

Helicopters, boats, jeeps and tanks are around to spice up the later levels, as are bad dudes in bulletproof jackets carrying belt-fed machine guns. You need to collect energy giving 'pop' bottles and ammunition to replenish your constantly-dwindling supplies. It got a Rave and deserved every percentage point for the frenetic action it captured on screen.

R-Type is in much the same vein, a scrolling shoot-'em-up that was smash in the arcade due to the vast array of aliens, guardians and 'power-ups' on offer. Again, the IQ level may have been lacking, but the speed of reaction required was enough to ensure instant addiction. The CPC version - a Speccy port - initially looked disappointing, but if played, a magic all of its own was soon apparent. It's tough, but practice soon allows perfection in the art of trashing tentacled things, particularly with the special weapons, which are both pretty and effective.

Batman: The Caped Crusader is an action adventure that seeks to capture the flavour of the camped-up '60s TV series. Batman has to find a whole host of objects to defeat the Joker and Penguin in the two separate stories. The graphics feature heavy comic book influences, with each screen appearing overlaid in cartoon fashion, a short, squat Batman and items such as the Bat-disguise kit (Mickey Mouse ears!) to let you sneak into the felons' hide-out. A strange and intriguing game.

Double Dragon, the original beat-'em-up, suffers the same sorry fate as many coin-op conversions and just doesn't stand up away from the arcade. The graphics are all very pretty, but the sprites move at the speed of an arthritic slug on Valium. Seeing as everyone else moves in slow motion too, though, it somehow makes the game almost playable.

Most people would be outraged, but dedicated dragon fans will no doubt find its baseball-bat-swinging charm as irresistible as ever.

What separates The Biz out from the crowd isn't just the overall quality of the software, but the variety of games within the compilation.

Operation Wolf gives plunges you deep into the action with a novel - and much imitated - arcade blast. R-Type takes the more traditional route into the world of alien bashing with a shoot-'em-up that breaks no bounds, yet is a fine example of the genre. Batman provides the grey matter with something to do between the random acts of brutality.

Double Dragon, meanwhile, has its place as the token beat-'em-up. Even though the compilation is only on tape and three of the games are multi-loaders, it's a stonking selection.

Variety is the spice of good games and here, while they're all from one overall sphere - arcade/action, you get to play four completely different game styles.

If you're looking for action, go for it, it'll make your day!

Overall 81%
A great mix of games - truly The Biz.