US Gold has brought together three Ultimate classics launched in those heady days when thousands ordered the next Ultimate game long before its release simply because it was the next Ultimate game.

Sadly, those days are passed but this compilation will give many new Amstrad owners the chance to experience at first hand just what made Ultimate so good.

Alien 8: A starship hurtles towards a pre-ordained destination. Inside a robot, created by a civilisation long since dead, goes about his business as if he had only started his duties yesterday.

The robot, an Alien 8 unit, is still in perfect working order even after the passage of so many centuries.

As the Alien 8 unit, your task is to prepare the ship and its frozen cargo for landing on the new home planet. Once the ship slows down below sub-hyperwarp speed it is open to attack, and sensors report alien intrusions in many parts of the ship causing all life support systems to become damaged. All systems must be repaired before final approach to the planet is made.

The Amstrad conversion of this vintage game is every bit as good as the original Spectrum version, which was launched in the earliest days of the isometric game while many people were still trying to catch their breath after having seen Knight Lore.

Considering Alien 8 was one of the very first isometrics it has aged extremely well and still confronts the new player with many seemingly impossible logic or co-ordination problems as befits this kind of game.

Night Shade: The once peaceful village of Night Shade has been overrun by a terrible disease which has caused all its inhabitants to mutate into a number of different creatures, all hideously evil and foul.

Night Shade is another of Ultimate's isometric games, but is substantially different from Alien in that your character stays in the centre of the screen and the background scrolls as you move around the village (as in The Great Escape).

The other feature which made Night Shade unique when it was first released, is the way in which the exteriors of the houses disappear when you enter them so that you can see what's going on inside. A line remains on the floor to tell you a wall exists, and a gap in the line shows the exit.

The creatures range from floating fireballs to rabid gargoyles and squidgy yellow things that wriggle along the ground.

Sabre Wulf: this is the forerunner of a thousand arcade adventures. Of the three, this game shows its age the most, but it still represents good entertainment value for first time players.

Set in a tropical rain forest, you look down on our hero as you try to guide him out of the maze of creepers and exotic flowers in which he has become trapped.

Each screen is a rich tapestry of colour, and is quickly filled with all manner of animals that are all quite deadly unless you can kill them with your sword first.

Magic orchids grow wild in the jungle and can be eaten to give you extra powers including immunity from animals and the ability to zoom through the jungle at double speed.

Apart from the orchids, there are many other objects that can be picked up and used. Mysterious cubes, sacks of cash, rings, and swords are amongst the things you may find.

Alien 8 and, to a certain extent, Night Shade still stand up in today's market - especially at a budget price. Sabre Wulf is more interesting for its nostalgia value although it's fun for all that.

So, yet another compilation, and only three games on this one. Nevertheless the package represents good value for money if you're an Ultimate fan, especially one who missed any of these first time round.