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Anyone seen a submarine around here? The British Navy has lost one, it seems. It's big, grey and full of men with beards. It must have rolled off the continental shelf and disappeared under the sea-bed. Oh well. It'll probably turn up soon, covered with fluff.

And anyway, we aren't the only people careless with their top-of-the-range nuclear powered ballistic subs; the Soviet Navy has also misplaced one. Hmm. This calls for unprecedented co-operation between East and West (this is pre-perestroika, remember).

The Russian have assigned gorgeous pouting Anya Amasova (translated, this means Helpless Female) to this tricky case. And the plucky Brits have sent James Bond. He suspects that the only evil, twisted mind capable of this large-scale theft of military undersea vessels belongs to Karl Stromberg. Consequently, Bond and Anya set off to visit this power-mad despot in his underwater fortress, Atlantis.

This is where you come in. You are now Bond, or rather Bond's ageing Lotus Esprit. You must drive along a winding road with more traffic cones on it than the M25. The scenery is scrolling vertically past, and the course gets ever more tortuous. To add to the fun, other vehicles belt towards you in the middle of the road. Avoid them, keep off the verges and send the cones flying.

Also littered around are large letter 'Q's. These must be driven over and collected. They can later be traded in for specialised equipment from Q's gadget workshop (assuming you get there). As well as all the other hazards, there are puddles on the road. Lotus's legendary handling appears to leave a lot to be desired as, every time you encounter a puddle the car spins out of control for a few seconds.

You'll eventually reach a pier. The car doesn't dive into the water like in the movie. It trundles to a halt and you both get into a small motorboat.

The scrolling game continues. You chug off in the little boat. It is as hard to control as the car. But at least it is armed (albeit with a largely ineffectual missile launcher). You move the boat in exactly the same manner as the Lotus, and it responds the same way.

There are a great many piers and jetties to avoid. Some lead into blind alleys and cause you to explode horribly. The sea is littered with little buoys, other boats and more (waterproof) Q tokens to collect.

Once you have negotiated the hazards and headed out into the open sea, you are magically transported into the Lotus once more. It's with a sense of deja vu that you begin driving along a vertically-scrolling road, avoiding cars and traffic cones and collecting Q points. The main difference is that this time you must rendezvous with the Q-Truck. Drive up into the back of it, and you can equip your car with a variety of weapons. Each costs a certain number of tokens. So that's what they're for...!

Having done this, you drive off again. This is the problem with The Spy Who Loved Me; there really isn't enough to do. The only difference with this driving section is that there are jumps to negotiate, pieces of broken glass in the road, and a helicopter buzzing overhead. This is packed with gun-waving baddies, and is just begging for a missile in the rotor-blades.

The third and final level (if you get there - yup, control is that tricky!) has you belting off towards Sternberg's HQ and a final world-saving confrontation.

The scrolling is pretty smooth, and there is a wealth of detail on the screen during the Lotus-driving sequence. What lets it down is the control. The car feels like it's driving on ice. And when you hit a puddle, the control goes completely. The most successful way to get round the problem is to go very slowly indeed past the puddles. Yes, yes, I know that Bond wouldn't be seen dead driving like an arthritic snail round a measly puzzle. But the alternative is to crash.

Whenever you do lose a life, you start either back at the beginning of the level, or at about halfway through. Naturally, this is terrible news if you've struggled for ages and have almost got on to the next level.

The sound is a bit sparse. There are no car or boat noises, but a scuffing can be heard when you drive off the road. Other effects occur when you hit things.

Overall, The Spy Who Loved Me isn't very fulfilling or satisfying. The link with the actual film is pretty tenuous, and although the graphics are smooth and nicely drawn, they don't make up for the lack of gameplay.

The Spy Who Loved Me on the CPC looks almost as good as the 16-bit versions, which isn't saying much, unfortunately. It's pretty enough, nonetheless, but the awful control stops it assuming any real playability.

Get to the helicopter on Level Two.

Graphics 78%
P. Smooth, detailed, colourful.
N. The main sprite is a little small, though.

Sonics 59%
N. Not much really.
P. What there is fits in nicely.

Grab Factor 64%
P. Initially challenging and addictive.

Staying Power 41%
N. It gets very monotonous.

Overall 52%
P. There isn't enough variety.