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The worst thing that could possibly happen to you is that your C Droid should run out of power before he manages to pump out the flooded engine room.

C Droids are the merchant seamen of the future and you have just five of them to help you get your ship safely into port in Silversoft's latest offering for the Spectrum: Worse Things Happen At Sea.

The clanking sailors have to rush all over the vessel in an attempt to plug the leaks, pump out the flooded compartments and keep darting back to take the wheel if the ship goes off course.

If you do get blown off course, you have to take the wheel and centre the dial on the control board.

The bottom two thirds of the screen shows the room that the C Droid is currently working in or walking through. The top third shows all the various controls and the horizon with your ship on the surface.

An indicator shows you how much C Droid power you have left, the course dial, time taken, water level, the number of rooms flooded or pumped dry and also shows you which particular tool the C Droid is currently using.

There are four different tools that your Droid will need to use in the game; the ship's wheel, the pump, the oil can, and the plugs.

Worse Things Happen At Sea is a complex game to play but not difficult to learn, and - boy - is it addictive!

In addition to all this, each C Droid has to nip into the recharging chamber every so often to boost its power batteries.

Worse Things will have you tearning your hair out as you race around trying to plug the leaks to keep your vessel afloat.

Your first trip is the easiest as you do not have to worry about the wheel. If you succeed, you will be given a cost sheet showing how much of the cargo has been damaged by water and the cost of repairing the C Droids.

Your next trip is much tougher as the leaks spring faster and your ship can also get blown off course.

This really is a splendid game. The mechanics of the game have been extremely well thought out to provide a progressively more difficult challenge that will be fun to play time and time again. Deserves to get number one. But what are all the boxes of cargo marked QL?!