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Ah, those crazy leetle French people. Only they could decide to write a paragliding simulation and take it seriously. Paragliding, in case you don't know, involves floating along (in the air) under a big quilt, with just air currents to keep you up.

So you can probably guess what you do in the game Paragliding. Yep, float along under a simulated quilt with simulated air currents buffeting you every which way. There are varying levels of difficulty, ranging from Practice to Championship, but they're all damn hard. Landing especially is tricky, and it's made worse by the fact that you actually explode when you fail.

There are also differing landscapes: greeny ones, deserts, Alpine mountains. Each produces its own sort of wind (ooer! fnarr! snurk!) and needs to be treated differently. In each, as well as coping with the wind you need to avoid obstacles like birds and planes who, for some reason, have a deep hatred of paragliders.

Strangely, the graphics are better animated and smoother than many other so-called state-of-the-art games, though there aren't too many of them - a bit of ground and you, basically. There's the perky sound to match.

Let's be absolutely honest about this, Loriciel were onto a loser before they even started programming Paragliding. Unless you're an ST-owning paragliding freak you're unlikely to be enthralled with the inticacies of air currents, flying duvets and anorak toggles. They've done the best they can within the framework, but it's the framework that's wrong in the first place. Full marks for trying, though.

1. Aren't you sick of paragliding sims by now? Er - no, there aren't any. At least this makes Paragliding unique.