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We had a lot of trouble getting hold of this game. When we did eventually get one, it wouldn't work. It will come as no surprise to you that having to make a raid on the software company just to get a working copy, in 81 degree heat, is no picnic. Still. We're the courageous sort at C&VG and after only a whole day's effort, we got the dashed thing to work.

Time Trax is, according to Argus, "incredibly deep". Hmmm. Dense maybe. The plot goes a little like this... There was a nuclear way. You survived. Your sole companion in your shelter was a disturbed old lunatic called Uriah Winterbottom M.Sc. He was a mad professor in the classic style. A few days before the end, he began to babble about time zones and suchlike... Get the picture? Yup? The game plan is remarkably similar to 5th Axis (reviewed last issue). It involves travelling through time zones and returning lost pieces of history to their correct eras.

The screen is presented in a very orderly fashion, the top half being an "action window", showing - surprisingly - the action. In the lower half, a series of boxes show all sorts of interesting, and utterly vital, information. Time elapsed, tiles stored, energy left, object storage boxes and the menu.

The menu is quite competently assembled. By moving the joystick back and forth, you can select options with which you can manipulate objects.

And that's really all there is to it. The graphics are nice, but too small to contain any detail.

There are an awful lot of places to go, from the current era - obviously - through the ice age, wilderness, golden age, Gothic period and many more.

To find an object, you need to LOOK in a likely place. Unfortunately, there are an awful lot of likely places, and it takes a considerable amount of time to check them.

And that, dear readers, is it. Nothing marvellous, but reasonably reasonable. Oh yes, the music is very nice too.