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1985's PCW show wasn't terribly memorable, except for one thing; the goings on at the System 3 stand. To promote their 'soon-to-be-launched' game Twister, they had a band of semi-naked girls running around their stand with whips!

It actually took until the middle of March for the game to be finished, nearly six months! Was it worth the wait? In some ways, yes, and in others, no. Sub-titled Mother of Charlotte, Twister is, to quote the inlay, "the blackest hearted dweller in Hades", and it is up to you to save the world from a fearful doom by killing her.

To play Twister requires either some deft finger movements, or a joystick interface, preferably the latter. The object of the game is to complete various 'dimensions', by killing a certain amount of devils, and collecting the correct symbols - which are dotted around along the way. Each completed Dimension gives you a section of the psychic bolt. In order to kill the Twister, you must have all the sections of said bolt.

Graphically, Twister is excellent. All of the levels have been carefully designed and drawn, and the feel of travelling into the screen has been achieved with dramatic effect.

Each Dimension provides different hazards, though they all share a similar objective. You must collect various symbols, and when you have collected the right amount, the next screen scrolls on very neatly. How long your game lasts depends on your ability to jump or move around, shoot hundreds of Demons, and watch out for which symbols you need to collect. On the first screen the symbols are the various suits of cards - spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs - on the second screen you must collect the seven letters that spell Twister, and so on. I can say that I played for quite a while before managing to get much past the third screen!

As Spectrum games go, the sound was very good, and it showed that a little imagination can go a long way. Twister is a very original game, and it is apparent that a lot of thought has gone into the game. It has a few details that remind me of the original Tempest arcade machine, but they are usd in such a diverse manner that this isn't very apparent.

Priced at £7.50, Twister actually represents relatively good value for money, especially in comparison to many games retailing at £10. Twister is a game that will appeal to a wide variety of Spectrum games, from the die-hard shoot-'em-up fan to an arcade/adventurer with an itchy trigger finger! Recommended.