The 4th Dimension have established themselves as a supplier of quality software for the Acorn range. E-Type will do nothing to harm that reputation. The game named after the famous Jaguar car model puts you behind the driving wheel. Your passenger looks like a blonde girl but you can never tell these days!

You race against the clock to complete the track under a specific time. The track twists, turns and undulates in a very convincing manner and it is not uncommon for players to crane their necks in an effort to look over the brow of the hill to see what's coming. The road is chock-a-block with other cars, obstacles and policemen. All these graphics move and enlarge in a way that provides an effective illusion of speeding down a busy road. Hitting other cars or objects causes increasing amounts of damage to your Jag and eventually it simply falls apart. One comical scene occurs when you drive off the road and onto water - the car slowly sinks down and the game ends.

The author, Gordon Key, has used a method called double screen buffering to produce surprisingly fast and smooth animation on the BBC. The game plays very well. When driving at high speed, control of the speed and control of the car becomes very difficult. This results in some hair-raising near-misses and lots of crashes. I have just one niggle about the size of the game screen. It is very small and it is difficult to make out what is ahead on the road. This is probably the compromise required to attain the speed required to make the game playable.

With five tracks consisting of Broads, Arctic, Sahara, Africa and Brazil there's plenty of driving to be done. Each track has different scenery and obstacle graphics. The best is Brazil with lush green vegetation, something of a rarity in this day and age. In summary, E-Type is a well presented and fun car racing game.

Verdict: Very good and thoroughly recommended.