When it comes to their public image, no-one is more sensitive, or tries harder, than the multi-national oil companies. Tigers, free tumblers and sponsored art exhibitions have all been used to clean up the image of what is inherently a dirtty product. BP bring the idea bang up to date with Slick!, a 'conservation game' for the BBC Micro, in which the object is to minimise the effects of an oil slick at sea.

You are Mr McTaggart, the local pollution officer for a small Scottish fishing village, with £5,000 to spend on anti-pollution methods. On the screen is a map of the harbour and the surrounding area, with the oil slick shown as an ominous black blob moving inexorably towards the shore. Also shown are the shellfish beds, fisheries and beaches - which, above all, oil should not reach.

The game has two parts, first you decide which anti-pollution method to spend your money, on - absorption, sinking, dispersant or shore-cleaning, then the action proper starts. After the oil spill has been announced, the current position of the slick is shown as a map reference, e.g. (590,370). You then have to calculate its next position from the speed and direction of the prevailing wind. For example, a 'fresh breeze from the east' will blow the slick three squares to the west. If you guess right, and within the time limit, you can load up a tug with your chosen anti-pollution material and head off for the slick, moving the tug with the arrow keys.

The above process has to be done in several stages, but once you've reached the slick, you can start unloading the material and so reduce the size of the slick. In addition, you can position static booms across sensitive spots such as the harbour, unfortunately you can't see them on the screen - they appear just as map co-ordinates.

And so the game continues until, inevitably, oil reaches the shore. You are then scored on how successfully you dealt with the slick: from a base score of 50, points are added for corretly predicting the slick's path and protecting the harbour, but are deducted according to how much reaches the shore.

Here one must question BP's objectivity: for example, letting the oil come ashore loses points because, as the guide lets slip, oiled beaches get reported in the press. Similarly, shellfish contaminated with dispersant chemicals don't improve BP's image.

The final section in the user guide entitled 'Point of Exercise' is perhaps the most telling: "Nobody wants oil pollution. But we all need oil... Accidents will happen." Oh yes?

Incidentally, with all the current talk of software pirates bankrupting the industry and the devious devices adopted to prevent it, the attitude of BP in this respect must seem puzzling, if not embarrassing. Not only are you encouraged to make back-up copies, but there is even an option in the main menu of Slick! that automatically transfers the program to disc for you!

As a piece of educational software Slick! teaches a variety of skills, from decision-making to map-reading and grid references. The danger is in thinking that a poor score means that you 'lost' - it just means that you didn't choose the method that BP wanted you to choose. Perhaps the Friends of the Earth should bring out an alternative version of Slick!