Macro Assembler looks a boon for any serious Oric programmer. The package doesn't just include a full two pass 6502 macro assembler, there's also a monitor and a suite of Basic commands like renumber, compact, block line delete etc. The only drawback is that you'll need ITL's Byte Drive to run it.

Shadowfire is another surprise from Beyond. To be released on April 17 1985, it's nothing like any of the company's other games. It has superb graphics and will probably do well, but I wasn't very impressed.

You're in control of a team of "tough future heroes" on a mission to rescue a kidnapped ambassador. All input is via icons, so to move you select a character, then its movement monitor, then the direction and so on - tedious.

Initial impressions are that the backing music is good, but repetitive, the action slow and the game on the dull side. But we'll let you know what prolonged exposure feels like very soon.

Rock 'N Bolt is a strange game which I don't see many buying. It's one of those mental-shape-puzzles like tangrams. The idea is to amass points by fixing girders together according to a blueprint. The girders are sliding rectangles onto which you can jump, and pressing fire fixes a girder in place.

The blueprints and the girder arrangements get more complex as you progress, some stretching over three screens.

Death Star Interceptor is the final scenario of Star Wars. It's not quite as good as 3D Star Strike, and is closer to the arcade game. It's a decent, two-and-a-half screen shoot-'em-up with neat graphics. First you have to take off through a portal (That's the half screen - a piece of cake after a couple of bashes). Then you're on your way to the looming Deathstar, facing waves of fighters.

This is probably the best bit - the fighters wheel out of the Deathstar and their perspective animation as they snake toward you is superb. Finally it's down the long channel dodging this and that, and hoping for a direct hit on the reactor port.

Tomorrow's Dream is better known for its Spectrum and BBC debugging monitors. In Sub Strike you control the submarine, trying to blast hordes of attacking helicopters. The game gets harder very quickly, with guided missiles, mines and deadly marine beasts to contend with.