Wayne Smithson's latest offering Superkid must be rated as his best so far. The object of the turbo-loaded game is to guide our hero in his efforts to save the ubiquitous damsel in distress. You don't need me to tell you that this is no easy task. Even a simple stroll down the smoothly scrolling tree-lined road is hampered by sneaky snails, bolshy bees and darned dogs.

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The well digitised speech, which gives such encouragements as "Go get 'em, Superkid" and "Well played" are almost cancelled out by the (drunken?) shout of "Superkid!" at the end of each game, although this is so bad it is actually funny enough to reduce you to a hysterically laughing wreck.

The snails pose few problems as they are easily jumped over or disposed of using "The weapon" (if you can get it) (A poaching pan and a couple of cloves of garlic? - Ed). The bees have an annoying habit of swooping up and down with uncanny accuracy and landing on your head. Although these wee beasties can also be eliminated using "The weapon", it is not so easy to judge their position, and trying to avoid them becomes a little maddening when you have to avoid snails and dogs as well.

Now for the dogs. They are traditionally known as man's best friend, but not here! These hairy hounds will stop and wait every time you do, just to make sure they can cause the most trouble. There they sit with their tongues hanging out looking oh so innocent, well don't you believe it. The crafty canines can not be destroyed, and must be avoided at all costs.

I was lucky enough to be given a review copy of Superkid with extra lives, but even so I didn't do as well as I would like even after playing the game for a considerable time. Some games are just hard, but this one isn't and you can only blame yourself when things go wrong. It isn't too difficult to get your name on the hi-score table but getting to the top will require a fair bit of work. The 'select a letter' method of entering your name seems just as hard as the game itself, but most genuine arcade games are the same.

The music accompanying the game is yet another masterpiece from Chris Jolly and is a blues/rock arrangement that once again makes you think it is time to part with your hard earned to get a copy of the AMS program, The graphics are extremely nice and again are slightly larger than the sprites that we have become accustomed to. The game is best played in colour as the colour mix is sometimes a little hard to distinguish on a monochrome monitor. There are many nice little touches, such as Superkid dancing to the music on the title page, which make this a very professional package.

This is probably the game that has most appealed to me in the last year or so and is one of the few games that I know I will play again and again. Get your wallet out, and let's hope its not £9.95. (Not quite, Roy, but these folk have to eat. By the way, when are we going to get some more Microvision stuff to review? - Ed)