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The F-16 is proving a pretty popular jet for simulations these days. That's not surprising because the F-16 is probably the best dogfighter around. It's fast, highly manoeuvrable, highly equipped, and well armed. It's also flown by some of the best pilots in the world. Which is where you come in.

After EA's ground-breaking Interceptor, Spectrum Holobyte have come up with the state-of-the-art fighter sim for the Amiga.

It comes on two disks with a manual that reads in places like an advanced maths textbook. It took me an hour just to read it and get my head round some of the things involved. An even cursory read is advisory, but if you load up and get stuck straight in, you'll start as a 1st Lieutenant - about the same kind of level as Interceptor. You can't crash the thing - even into mountains - and the enemy is slipped a couple of Valium to keep them docile. MiGs are soft as Andrex and SAM missile bases don't launch at you should you stray in range.

Once you've selected your rank and mission, the start-up screen presents the picture of a fat and jolly ground sergeant who'll arm your plane for you. But load up too heavy and you will plummet out of the sky.

There are a dozen missions to undertake and these range from the Milk Run, in which you go in for a bit of target practice, to Grand Slam in which you're required to take out four MiGs.

There are many different views of your jet, but the one you should concentrate on is in the cockpit. Familiarise yourself with the HUD display and the mass of dials in front of you. Again at starter level you won't need to worry about so much, but later on everything requires your attention. You'll also have to worry about adjusting your flaps and yaw/pitch. Try watching that lot when you're in a dogfight and trying to toggle radar modes and set up a Sidewinder.

Like Interceptor you can look at the plane from outside and by pressing 2 you'll be able to pan right round the plane. Possibly my favourite pastime when I'm not splashing MiGs. There's a view from the control tower and a satellite view as well. Toggling F1/F2 allows you to zoom in and out. You're also allowed to look out both sides and even out the back.

Your various missions, failures and successes are all recorded in the Sierra Hotel role of honour. It's always preceded by little snapshots of the results of your efforts. Get blown away and you'll see a still of a cross and a flypast, a cock-up normally results in a court martial (you'll be logged as busted), whilst an ejection shows as being successful or otherwise and may or may not suggest rescue. One small gripe is that if you eject you don't get to see your pilot fly out the cockpit. There's no pleasing some people.

The graphics in Falcon are fine, the opposing MiGs are particularly well detailed, and there's a good deal to see on the ground. Sound is OK, and an improvement on most flight sims by the inclusion of a "Bitchin' Betty", an audible warning that nags at you if you're in trouble. Well authentic.

Falcon is packed with depth, and since this is a review and not a manual I simply don't have room to tell you just how good it is. No doubt it'll be superseded by another sim soon, that's the beauty of the software scene. Until then it's Sierra Hotel.