It's a pity that the standard of Amstrad games released to date simply hasn't done justice to the machine's capabilities. Particularly so when you consider their high price.

Unfortunately, the latest Amsoft releases do nothing to improve the situation. True, there are some good graphic touches in Astro Attack, but the space ships which travel around the maze are rather chunky, and the game is too simple in concept. Bridge It has better graphics, but that's about all. Software Projects is shortly to release Jet Set Willy on the machine, and let's hope that will show just what can be done.

Funny how the games market often borrows from media events like the Olympics, even if accidentally. One such is Mineshaft, and it's nice to see the BBC version on one side of the cassette, and one for the Electron on the other. Your aim is to collect all the lumps of coal in the 20 rooms in the pit. The rooms have unlikely names such as The Derelict Place, Ghosties Revenge and The Junkhouse Mk. II. You only have a limited air supply, so time is of the essence and you can move to the next screen at will. The screens are a bit bare, but the graphics and animation are among the best.

Only seven weeks to Xmas, and the theme games are rolling in. Latest is Merry Xmas Santa. Your festive task is to help him make safe deliveries, avoiding marauding snowmen, jumping over snowballs and dodging falling icicles. Bonus points are available for collecting plum pudding and sherry.

Wongo's unusual scenario is the Great Wall of China, with a bouncing Chinaman defusing bombs along its length, evading arrows, gremlins and boulders.

Yet another space attack game - this one, Invaders, from Live Wire is in the usual style. Earth is threatened by alien invaders and you must destroy them with your laser.

On paper at least, the Expert Sprite Editor looks very good indeed. Features include sprite attribute data compression, moving and stationary animation, sprite layering, 224 sprites available from Basic or machine code, as well as all the editing commands you could want.

That the C64 is being seriously considered as suitable for a small business is shown by Kuma's latest Spreadsheet. The model can support up to 26 columns by 50 rows - rather limited, but the package costs only £14.99 and uses colour coding for totals, sub-totals, formulae, etc, which makes it easier to use than some.

The Z1 Grafix System allows you to control the micro's display via joystick and single key presses. It also allows mixing text and graphics as well as saving and loading images.

The Soft Sell is a display generator which allows you to page through up to 17 colour graphics screens, with the lower part showing scrolling messages in large characters.

Ocean's latest new release, Chinese Juggler, is a real test of skill and strategy as you try to balance the eight plates on rods.

Cylon Attack did quite well on the BBC, and now A&F has converted it for the Spectrum. Improvements include better graphics and faster and smoother movement.

Spectrum games are getting larger and larger. Xavior claims some 4,096 rooms, 256 different creatures, 32 room designs, etc, etc. Your task is to collect as many DNA fragments as possible to ensure the survival of your species. Due for release on November 19, we'll carry a review as soon as we can.

The Staff Of Zranol isn't the Martian version of Upstairs, Downstairs. It's an adventure which could have been called the Sorcerer's Apprentice. That's the part you play. Your task is to banish the demon you've accidentally released.

The aim of Plummet is to save a mayor, stranded in the lift shaft of a New York skyscraper. To do this you have to carry lengths of rope to the top of the shift. Needless to say the journey is fraught with perils.

CCS continues to expand its Charlie Charlie Sugar budget range. Nuke Lear involves deflecting barrels of radioactive material into the correct locations. Too many in the wrong place and the situation gets critical. Fair at the price, but not quite up to the standard of other budget games - like those from Firebird or Software Projects.

For those tackling machine code, Gener-80 looks handy. It's an editor assembler with some unusual features. For one it processes input immediately, syntax-error checking just like Sinclair Basic.

There's a 40-column full-screen editor and string search, block move and the like. Microdrives are supported and source, text and object code can be located at will in memory, allowing the use of a co-resident monitor.