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At last, after a wait of two years and innumerable delays, we've got the third of the Spy Vs. Spy games, Arctic Antics. And if there's any justice in this world, then this'll be the last.

Like everybody else back in 1985, I went ape when Beyond Software released the first Spy game, with its unique split-screen and simultaneous play. And Spy Vs. Spy II: The Island Caper, which followed a few months later, was everything a sequel should be.

By now though the formula is beginning to wear a bit thin, and the slapstick and pratfalls which were so funny then, now scarcely raise a smile. Maybe this is because the booby-traps themselves are not so complicated nor as violent as in the earlier games.

The plot remains the same. White Spy and Black are still locked in endless intrigue and counter intrigue and have switched their theatre of operations from the tropic heat to frozen wastes of the Arctic. The aim this time s for each spy to locate the punch card, gyroscope and uranium fuel cannister buried in the snow, carry them in the Launch Briefcase and then board the intergalactic Space Rocket which is hidden underground. While they are doing this, each tries to hinder or kill the other by saturating the playing area with bombs and booby traps, and that is where the fun comes in.

The traps are constructed using the icon-driven Trapulator, and before they can be laid, all the appropriate objects have to be dug up or picked up. Holes may be cut in the ice with saws, icicles dislodged with ice-picks, slippery patches made by pouring water, and buried sticks of TNT detonated with a plunger.

Walking into any of these traps will cause the unlucky sky to rapidly lose body heat, while the other sniggers gleefully. Body heat can also be lost by falling into thin ice or wading through deep snow without donning snow-shoes. And as the clock ticks away, the impending blizzard threatens to fill the screen with a blur of snowflakes, slowing movement to a crawl.

Hand-to-hand combat still figures prominently, but the clubs and swords have been replaced by snowballs - just as deadly, as a prolonged exchange can drastically reduce body temperature. If at any point, a spy's body temperature gets dangerously close to freezing point, then immediately he's got to make tracks to the nearest igloo, and hope that there's a fire inside.

The size of the playing area can be set at the start, and the larger the area, the greater the time limit. So you can opt for a frenetic race to the rocket in six minutes or so, or a leisurely stroll - with ample time for setting booby-traps - within half-an-hour. You can also choose whether or not to conceal the rocket's whereabouts until the end of the game, and, if you're playing against the computer, its level of intelligence (from totally moronic to mildly stupid).

Last minute programming hitches in the States have resulted in Arctic Antics being slightly different from the game described on the adverts and the one you've seen reviewed in other mags. The penguins have gone (just as well, seeing as this is supposed to be the Arctic), as have the space helmet, navigation chart and one or two other objects which the ads shout about. The instruction leaflet contains all sorts of now-redundant information, and omits some essential facts. Databyte is attempting to insert an Errata sheet before the game reaches the shops.

Arctic Antics is by far and away the weakest of the three Spy games and you might wonder just how much longer the First Star programming team can get away with churning out what are essentially three very similar games. As the rocket blasts free of the icecap, Spies In Space can clearly be read on the fuselage. If this is to be the next instalment, then I'm no hurry for it to touchdown.