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Now this is odd. The Ball Game is a strange computerised board game with elements of Go and Othello - but also a remarkable similarity to a Mastertronic game called Infection which was previewed by other magazines some time ago but never released (not to mention an arcade game based on it called Attax, and the forthcoming Virgin product Spot). In the Ball Game version, between one and four players can play, in any combination of computer and humans, at skill levels ranging from 'Very Easy' to 'Ludicrous'.

I don't have space to fully explain the rules here - it's all about little men jumping around the board, leaving coloured inflatable balls in their wake and trying to get close enough to spray-paint the coloured balls of the opposition - but they're very easy to get to grips with, and the game proves to be essentially very interesting and actually quite gripping.

There are several problems with this version though - not least the introduction of a random teleport element which wasn't in the original Infection version of the game. (I can't understand why they introduced such a wild card to what it essentially a game of strategy and wits). Graphically, too, things could perhaps be clearer - on anything less than the crispest monitors the colours of the balls can become hard to distinguish at times. In addition, playing at anything other than the very easiest level introduces a long delay in waiting for the computer players to make a move, and this, coupled with the fact that the game by its very nature takes quite a while to really get going, proves to be something of a fatal flaw.

Basically then, what we have here is a potentially brilliant board game, slilghtly spoiled by a couple of pointless twiddles and irritating inconsistencies. It's good, but it's at five times the intended price of Infection, and proves to be something of a lesser game.

Good fun with lots of pals, but struggles to hold the interest when played against the computer. An interesting game design, slightly ineptly executed and not really worth the daft price tag.