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This little nostalgia trip from Activision invites you to don your goggles, climb into the cockpit of a Gee Bee speed plane, and risk life and limb in an epic air rally of the 1930s.

From the dramatic cover illustration and the information on the back of the pack, you can see that the Gee Bee plane was an ugly stubby craft which certainly had no right to defy the laws of gravity. The leading speed plane of its time, it boasted an enormous engine and fuel tank, no rudder or flaps to speak of, and was shaped like 'an apple barrel with wings'.

But if you think you're in for an entirely new aerial experience, one glance at the opening screen will put your mind at rest. It's kind of reassuring that, even fifty years ago, aviators competed over the same entirely barren striped desert, surrounded by distant mountains, that has been the traditional landscape for almost every flight sim and dogfight game.

Across this candy-striped terrain, the course is marked out with chequered towers and pylons and, like a race track, it includes straight stretches as well as wide and tight bends. You push the throttle (fire button), pull back on the joystick, and your yellow Gee Bee takes to the air. In next to no time you're banking and weaving around the course, flying around, over or under the other competitors, trying not to stray too far off course, and keeping your speed up all the way to the finishing line.

The cockpit controls are simple - altimeter, compass and speedometer - but mostly just for show. All you've got to do is keep your eyes glued to the screen to avoid obstacles and keep on course. Once airborne, you hardly use the throttle, and speed can be increased by diving or slowed by climbing.

You've got little over a minute to complete each course, and precious seconds are wasted by losing your way or colliding with another plane. If you crack-up in mid-air, you bail out, and come to earth in a variety of embarrassing situations - head down in pig-swill, dangling from a tree, or gazing up at the strapping things of some Ohio farm wench.

If you cross the finishing line, a proportion of any time left over is carried over to the next event, as well as a bonus score. The instructions promise eight levels of four courses each, but most of the courses look pretty similar, with only the colour of the scenery and the number of bends changing. The exception is the fourth course in every level, which is either a slalom or a balloon-popping event. The landscape is still boring, but at least the action is slightly different.

Criticisms apart, the game succeeds in being curiously addictive, in exactly the same way as all those motor-racing arcade games. Responsive controls and fluid movement go a long way in making up for the dreary scenery, and the masking techniques are pretty impressive - you really can fly under and over the other planes.

Ultimately though, and despite all the 'humorous' parachute interludes, Activision has failed to disguise the fact that Gee Bee Air Rally is still the same old scrolling racing game dressed up in new clothes.