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Peter Worlock battles enemies alien, avian and electromagnetic on the colourful Commodore

It is only a few short weeks since Commodore 64 owners were facing a dire shortage of software for their micros. Now the opposite is the case: some excellent games are being shipped in from the US while the British software houses have finally cranked up their programmers and are now merrily churning out cassettes.

PCN had a look at half a dozen of the recent releases.

To start off on a high note, a classic in more than one sense. This was one of the very first arcade games and Terminal Software has produced a marvellous implementation.

It's also something of a rarity in that it is for two players. Each controls a World War I biplane in a dogfight to the death. Control is by joystick only.

At the start you look down on a blue sky ringed by a clever graphic impression of billowing white clouds. The two combatants appear flying side by side before wheeling away to start the game.

The screen features full wrap-round so it quickly becomes a tactical contest to get on your opponent's tail, or make a swooping attack out of the cloud.

The planes themselves are neat little sprites with a simple 3D effect that gives a sense of perspective as they loop and dive around. The sound effects are excellent.

The only minor criticisms of Super Dogfight are that you need two joysticks and two people. Terminal could have produced a game with a wider appeal had there been the option of using the keyboard and playing against the computer.

Still, provided you have the joysticks and a playing partner, this is highly recommended.

Unfortunately, I can't lavish such praise on this one from J. Morrison Micros. But there are no real grounds on which to criticise the game. The graphics are splendid multicolour sprites with very smooth animation and good sound effects.

So what's the problem? Simply that it is all such old hat now. It's been said before in PCN Gameplay and merits a repeat: there really is little point in games writers turning out variations on Pacman and Space Invaders et al.

Vultures falls into the category of pale imitation. It's fun and fast and colourful but most people will already have something similar. If you don't then here's what you get: you play a humanoid at the foot of the screen, shooting down laser-spitting vultures descending from the top.

If you clear the sheet two eggs hatch open and three faster, more vicious birds appear. If they don't shoot you first they may pick you up and carry you aloft to an unspeakable end. Shooting them down merely moves you to a faster level.

Not very original, not very addictive.

No prizes for guessing the plot of this one, another copy of the arcade original. This, from Anirog, is the second version I've seen for the C64 and though a closer copy of the original, loses something in playability.

There are only three floors of girders (I seem to recall the arcade version having four) but everything else will be familiar. Kong even throws the barrels, instead of them magically appearing from off screen somewhere.

Again, the graphics are well done but given the graphics facilities on the C64, there can be no excuse for boring displays or jerky animation.

One common fault with C64 sprites is collision detection can be tricky to handle and this seems to be a fault here. The upshot is that timing your jumps is even more crucial than arcade addicts will be used to. However, if you want a version of Kong, you could do worse.

The lowpoint of this round-up Virgin Games' usual high standard of packaging credits one Kieron Brennan with the creation of Bitmania. He is, apparently, 16 years old and prefers games that are "fast, colourful and visually exciting".

Bitmania fulfills these conditions but fails in one department: it's a boring game to play.

Master Brennan is a wizard in the graphics department and this game is one of the most beautiful I have seen. The title screen is colourful with a clever script display. The game itself features user-defined graphics, swooshing sprites and a multitude of shapes whizzing about in all directions.

Sadly, it is marred by a lack of balance. If half the effort invested in the graphics department had been spent on improvising the actual playability of the game, it would have been a masterpiece.

After the first movements of blind panic in the face of the screen pyro technics, it becomes apparent that you can position your gun in one of several relatively safe spots and, with any a few corrections, knock out the enemy with impunity.

The scenario is also a little bizarre. You are apparently in the data bus of the C64 attempting to reach the "central core". You do this by blasting the bits dispatched against you by the CPU.

By far the best thing about Bitmania is the introduction sequence. If, instead of going straight into the action, you wait a bit, you will be rewarded by a superb piece of musical programming that sounds very much like Vivaldi. I quickly gave up playing and left this musical accompaniment running for a while.

Another one from Anirog and much the better of the two. You control the vehicle of the title, speeding across the lunar terrain facing a multitude of perils from an enemy attack force.

There are many ways to lose here, zapped from above, blasted from the front, driving over a mine or simply crashing in a crater. You have forward and vertical lasers to defend yourself and control over the speed of your buggy. By accelerating and jumping you can avoid the mines and craters but it really is a test of hand-eye coordination.

The graphics are simple but cutely effective. Your buggy has independent six-wheel suspension as you move across the rough surface and when you lose a life the tyres pop off in a manner guaranteed to raise a smile.

Helicopters do seem to be in on the C64 this season. Following hot on the rotor blades of Choplifter and Fort Apocalypse comes this title from newcomer Mondatta.

I felt the adrenalin surge as I read the inlay; it sounds like a combination of 3D arcade action and flight simulator. And so it is, but a little disappointing in the implementation.

You have two screen displays in the first section, starting with the view from the cockpit. Displays include speed, RPM, pitch, fuel and other necessities of flight control. You can switch to radar which gives you a pictorial image of the playfield and shows your position, barrage balloons, ground to air missiles and your target - the enemy island.

The hazards in this first section include 4,000ft high mountains which you must fly over or round, and a radar screen at 1,500 feet which you must fly under.

Having reached the island in less than 5mins 30secs, you can refuel and set about blowing things up. Unfortunately, I was never able to get to this exciting bit, being in the habit of hitting mountains, lasers or missiles, or avoiding these and running out of time.

The graphics are adequate, the sound is disappointing and, so far as I was able to tell, there's little excitement. However, it does make a change from the Invaders/Pacman clones.