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It has been said that U.I.M. is a 'second Elite' and it's a title it stands up to well. With an undersea scenario that boasts 256 missions and 65,536 ports, the familiar inter-port trading, a complex stock exchange and money markets, this is certainly a very substantial game. However, the price of all this is that it will not run in a Model B without at least 16K of Sideways RAM.

The game is set in the near future when the human race has been driven into the oceans by the heating up of the Earth. Basically, there were these 'replicators' which mutated to produce nasty groups of 'replicants' which were able to defend themselves, and these built up large hostile sub-sea cities. However, help is at hand to stop the replicants from spreading - the U.I.M. - the Ultra Intelligent Machine.

This, if you hadn't guessed it, is where you come in - to go off in search of the thing. The graphics are good and there are a lot of different types of submarine to see. However, my only reservation is that the viewing area is too small. It restricts view while fighting and frequently means you can't see who is shooting at you.

It also seems that the days of a 'safe zone' around ports has long gone - you get shot at as soon as you leave the port! To change ports, you have to select a nearby one and launch into orbital flight. This seemed rather odd but it certainly scrapes the heat shield if you are slightly off course! Docking is achieved by heading for a buoy. Once docked, you can trade in items, equipment, currency and shares.

In all, U.I.M. is an excellent game but I experienced some problems on a BBC B - only eventually making it load by plugging a 32K RAM chip directly onto the board! Buy it straight away - it will keep you playing for hours.