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'Exciting' it says. 'Addictive' it says. It had better be good! he says, noting that we are off to a good start with the cover advertising it as being 'pure machine code'. Just as well because we don't deal with impure machine code in this magazine.

Does anybody out there remember Daley Thompson's Joystick Destroyer? This is in much the same vein except that this time it is judo champion Brian Jacks who is getting the royalties.

The game is recorded at high speed on both sides because there is a second section on the flip side, this makes the major hurdle the loading time.

The title screen loads before the start of each half of the game which means that it takes a long time to play it all the way through, as you have to load it all twice.

Graphics on this aren't that hot. They are all in mode zero with the sort of animation that you get when doodling on the corners of a telephone directory. You usually find Brian and you slogging it out, with Brian showing no spurts of speed,

The plot is very simple. You wiggle the joystick back and forth at a rate of knots, and the character on the screen runs, paddles or cycles faster. The only exception to this is the archery bit, This is a moving target and you control the angle and time of release of a crossbow bolt - with the fire button only. This is very much a shot in the dark until you get the hang of it, then it becomes routine. Now for the other side of the tape.

Swimming is the next event. How do you swim with a joystick? Apparently you wiggle it and press the button on top when you want air. Lack of air slows you down a bit but I never did manage to drown. Doubtless I will get more encouragement from Martech later on.

By this stage, your hand will have Space Invaders thumb and the joystick will be rapidly acquiring plastic fatigue. The brain desperately wants something exciting and it gets...squat thrusts. Be still my beating heart.

There are a few other events with much the same track record and they all involve you rattling your joystick or wrecking the keyboard, This is not as exciting as the Daley Thompson version and seems to be trying to run on a non-existent wave of fame.