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The theme of this computerised wargame is a potential Third World War caused by Soviet incursion upon West German soil. Ignoring the controversial subject of whether or not it is right to turn the prospect of nuclear holocaust into a mere game, I shall describe its concept and leave the moral judgements to the conscience of the buyer.

At the beginning you are invited to adopt the role of commander of the Warsaw Pact or NATO forces, the computer takes the opposing role. The aim is to either maintain control of West Germany for NATO or to dominate the country for the Pact. It soon becomes obvious that the idea is to achieve your chosen objective by non-nuclear means, or at least controlled use of tactical nuclear \\ capons.

Each side has a number of military units which can be moved a fixed distance each turn, war being waged or retreats made according to your estimation of each unit's strength against that of the opposing forces. Having engaged one or more units in battle it is then possible to monitor one of these skirmishes on the screen and influence the outcome by controlling missiles on an arcade action screen.

The game can be played at one of three levels, the higher levels have special operations which you can select in an attempt to gain superiority. The end of the game arrives when the computer decides that sufficient advantage has been gained by one side or the other.

The graphics in this game are very good but the introductory music, 'Give Peace A Chance', seems a little corny and unnecessary.

The manual has sufficient detail to allow the game to be played, but I felt in need of further details to help me to understand the decision of the computer to end the game. Judging by the bibliography, the research for this game has been thorough and it states that the Designers Notes are available on request. Personally 1 feel that it would have been useful to include these as part of the package instead of the superfluous leaflets.

I was left with the impression that far too much time was spent on developing the cosmetic aspects of this game, such as the nuclear cloud mushrooming over a doomed city.

Wargaming is at its most enjoyable when complex and it is essential to feel that decisions made have a logical basis. 1 found myself getting bored and frustrated by the decisions of the computer to launch all-out nuclear strikes for no apparent reason or to award the game itself just when I felt the tide had turned in my favour. More documentation may have alleviated these problems but as it stands it leaves me cold.

E.D.