Roomlord from Paramount is a multi-screen arcade/adventure which is far from easy. You control a figure which bears more than a passing resemblance to one of the heroes of Atic Atac and have to collect heirlooms such as tiaras and guitars from the sixteen rooms. Having entered a room you are faced with numerous hazards and can destroy the guardians - dragons or cowboys - by throwing your Magic Star.

Havoc comes from a new software house, Dynavision, and is rather like Zaxxon. You fly a fighter across a scrolling city-type landscape, dodging through narrow apertures and evading oncoming fighters and falling bombs. The graphics are well done, but the joystick response is sluggish.

Trollie Wallie is Interceptor Micro's follow-on to Wheelin' Wally and Wallie Goes To Rhymeland. In it, you guide Wallie on a shopping spree through a department store, avoiding obstacles on the way. Wallie has to collect forty items, but he can only carry five at a time and once this limit is reached he has to go to the checkout to pay for them.

Software Projects, now importing games from the USA, is also licensed to convert games for a variety of machines. One of its first imports is BC's Quest For Tires - a very strong contender for PCN's oddest title of the month award. The game is from Sierra-On-Line, which produces top-quality games for the C64, Apple and Atari. Software Projects also has arrangements with such famous names as Broderbund and CVS Technology. The arcade game Hunchback At The Olympics from CVS will soon be available on the Spectrum and the 64.

Poltergeist for the Spectrum will soon be available and takes place in a 15 room house. You must visit each room, avoiding household objects wihch begin to move around as you progress. Your aerosol can of holy water will deter the poltergeists, but is easily exhausted. Should you come face-to-face with the phantom itself, you will need at least a quarter of a can of the deadly stuff to exorcise it.

Forest At World's End is a graphics adventure in which your task, at the mightiest of ancient warriors, is to rescue the princess Mara from the clutches of the evil wizard Zan. The phrase analyser looks impressive. It allows you to use adjectives and compound commands.

Avalon is Hewson's latest and will be released on September 16th. Billed as: "the adventure movie" the company claims that it represents a major breakthrough in programming technique as the first adventure game with three-dimensional graphics. Like Valhalla, it will allow real-time player interaction with the characters and we will be bringing you a full review as soon as we get our hands on it.

On the prize front, there is Quo Vadis and Starbike from The Edge. Quo Vadis (Latin for "Where are you going?") offers you the chance to win a Golden Sceptre. A graphics adventure, the game requires you to find your way through caverns, killing some of the 38 animated monsters, and solving riddles which will help in the search for the Magic Sceptre. Starbike's prizes include a free subscription to Computer and Video Games, free cassettes or a BMX bike. Unusually, you do not even have to play the game to win - each cassette comes with a number which offers you the chance of winning. The Edge call Starbike a "space arcade adventure" and your brief is to collect lost aliens from various planets, avoiding or destroying interstellar flotsam and jetsam.

Spectrum Sound Effects comes with 50 noises such as Car Engine, Lazer Zaps and Penny Whistle. The package allows you to develop complex sounds on the Spectrum, and save them to tape for later use in your programs.

The Memotech Utilities Package is very cheap and contains programming tools like a Renumber routine, binary/hex/decimal conversion, 40 column text and data save/load.

The QL Monitor will prove an invaluable aid to 68008 programmers. It allows you to examine the contents of addresses, insert memory, search for strings or hex numbers, compare, move and so forth. KAT is also producing a character generator for font designing.

Triptych's releases for the Spectrum, C64 and BBC include Entrepreneur which will help you to learn about planning business ventures and includes information about working capital, break-even points and profit and loss. On a lighter note, Star Watcher lets you plot the 1,500 brightest stars and will help you learn to identify the constellations.