By the time of Atic Atac, Ultimate was well on its way to fame. It's the first on Unbelievable Ultimate II. Much imitated, it's a giant maze game, set in a haunted house, with lots to pick up. Added interest comes from your ability to choose different types of hero.

Sabre Wulf has also inspired programmers. This time the maze is a series of jungle passages, inhabited by a variety of foes, some of which are best avoided. It's a huge game and possesses the Ultimate trademarks of great graphics and good humour.

Sabre Man crops up again in Underwurlde, which even improves on his first outing. Here he's seen sideways and he runs and bounces about a series of rooms and caves, swings on ropes and floats on hot air bubbles.

Of all the Ultimate games, Alien 8 was the one that had most influence on the programming world. This was the game that introduced the solid 30 view, seen from above.

Everything from Sweevo's World to Batman owes a debt to the antics of this little android, and even if some of the techniques used here have been refined since, the game's still got a lot of ingenious puzzles.

On the whole Ultimate in its hay-day did get it right, time after time. With four games for a tenner, you can't grumble if you want fast action and undemanding scenarios.

Label: Ultimate Author: In-house Price: £9.99 Memory: 48K Reviewer: Jerry Muir

*****

The better of the two Ultimate compilations. Produced when the firm was at its peak, includes the classic Alien 8.