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This Shaun Southern game caused a stir when it was released last year. As you will see from the screenshot, you control a ball - a spinning football - which you must keep control of as you bomb down a space track against a background of the stars. This track, planted in space, is five lanes wide and is made up of various coloured squares. You can move left and right and across the track but you can't fall off the edges.

You can accelerate and slow down, and jump. You have five jumps per level and a jump will send you spinning high into the air over many obstacles. There is a time limit for each level and any time remaining is carried onto the next level. The game ends when your time runs out.

The C16 version has sixteen different courses, all fairly long and all very difficult, which is more than either the Amstrad or the Speccy versions. The latter doesn't even have colour. Okay, the C16 version only has the arcade mode, not the practice as well, but excluding the C64 version, you still can't beat it.

The scrolling is ultra slick, 3D. The large blocks move smoothly towards you, spreading out at they come without a touch of flicker; it is all extremely well done. The squares make the most of the C16's colour and are varied, often giving the two-tone checker board effect and making the individual squares easy to identify and very clear. There are seven types of square to note:

Grey squares - the grey squares in two tones indicate start and finish. The timer starts when you leave the grey area and stops when you hit it at the end. This gives you a chance to get into lane, ready for the action to start.

Blue squares - the blue squares bounce your ball high into the air, further than just a jump. They act as a trampoline so the faster you hit the harder you go. Essential to get over some of the gaps.

Cyan squares - cyan squares are really nasty. When in a patch of cyan, your controls are reversed so left becomes right and accelerating slows you down, etc. Thankfully, the jumps still work, giving some some chance.

Green squares - these squares simply speed you up, even if you are going as fast as you can!

Red squares - these squares slow you down wickedly.

Purple squares - these are missing from the Speccy and Amstrad versions and are the opposite of blue squares. They throw you backwards. The faster you hit 'em, the farther back you go!

Black squares - these are really evil. Hit these and you go down into the depths of space; this is where time is lost as it takes time to get you back on the tracks. A neat feature is the way that you roll on the lip before you fall in, if you didn't completely hit.

The warp square of the C64 version is missing, but you can't have everything in 16K. The graphics are excellent and the game has a C64 quality soundtrack. Joystick or keyboard option is available.

This game is compulsive, addictive and fun to play. It's good to see software houses actually taking care over the C16 (take note Elite). The game is one of the best around and shows the world that the C16 can be as good as the Speccy and Amstrad if the right person is programming it. Thanks, Gremlin.