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If you haven't heard of Paperboy you must have had your head down the toilet for the past six months, in which case I'd wash your hair before reading this.

Paperboy was a huge megahype game for Atari in the arcades and pubs before Elite snapped it up to produce it for Spectrum, C64 and now C16 owners all over the world. It is rumoured that profits from sales of the game have topped the gross domestic product of Finland and the CU Editor's salary put together.

The object of Paperboy is to ride your BMX through the streets of suburbia flinging the dailies at the doors like they do in the USA. They'd never stand for it in North Malden.

Before you get pedalling you are provided with a map will tells you which householders like to find their copy of The Daily Blarg blowing across the garden; and who would rather walk to the newsagents.

Then it's just a question of chucking the rags so as they hit the doors, for which you get 250 points. You miss, you get nothing. What's more, you have to watch out for balls, parcels, supermarket trolleys and raving loonies who get in your way. If you hit one of these, you lose one of your three lives.

The looney is worth losing a life over for the sheer satisfaction of running him down. Elite say the supermarket trolley is supposed to be a Sinclair C5; to me, it looks like a supermarket trolley.

The one overriding snag is that it's all a bit too easy. Getting the papers to hit the doors is tricky at first, but avoiding the obstacles is a piece of cake. If the game is going to work, it either needs more obstacles or they will have to be more awkward to avoid.

If Elite can improve on the toughness, and sort out the other shortcomings though, Paperboy promises to be well worth another look.