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It's a good job English Software released Hijack before the Shi'te Muslims decided to play the game for real. Otherwise, they might have laid themselves open to charges of opportunism.

At it is, the worst one could level against them is a charge of premeditated plagiarism. If you ever saw Broderbund's Choplifter, then Hijack will give you a remarkable feeling of deja vu.

The innovative aspect of the scenario is that it is a train that has been hijacked.

"Fly this train to Waterloo," doesn't sound quite right, does it?

There are ten VIPs aboard the train and your job as a chopper pilot is to pick them off the root of the train and deposit them in the safety of the rear carriage. Meanwhile, of course, there are hazards to be avoided.

Guns fire at you and trees suddenly offer themselves as targets for you to crash into. It's like learning to drive all over again!

The title page is accompanied by a jolly rendition ot The Runaway Train, but the same sounds consist largely of the tacka-tacka-tacka helicopter rotor and whizz-boom gunshots.

One nice feature is that following a wipe-out, you can start from the level you were on when killed. You can also restart from the beginning if you really want to.

It's not one of the most compulsive games I've ever played. In fact in my opinion the cleverest part is the way the title is written in an appropriate shape on the cassette inlay.

It's a lot more colourful than Choplifter, and if you never saw Broderbund's classic you may well love Hijack. For my money, though, I prefer the original.

Talking of money, the 48K cassette costs £7.95, and the disc version is £10.95.