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Geoff Capes must be one of the world's best known strongmen. Olympic shot putter and veteran of many a world's strongest man competition, he is the archetypal he-man. Strongman is a collection of six events designed to sort out the men from the boys.

The secret of success is a dedicated training regime and if you are to be a worthy successor to Geoff Capes you too must hone your body to the peak of physical fitness. To this end you are presented with an initial training session.

The lower half of the screen is devoted to five icons, each relating to a specific group of muscles. A power meter waits for you to start bashing the joystick or keyboard. You have 10 seconds to obtain the highest possible power reading. You then divide this power among the five muscle groups to determine your level of physical fitness.

Beetle rolling is the first challenge - Volkswagen Beetles. As each muscle icon flashes you must place the cursor on it and press the fire button. Make no mistakes and Geoff will begin to roll the car: Make a boob and the motor drops on his foot. Success earns extra power to rejuvenate your aching muscles.

Sumo wrestling is one of the easier events. Run at your opponent, time an upper cut correctly, and the game can be over in seconds. Get it wrong and you'll find yourself on your posterior, travelling backwards at a rate of knots.

Event number three is a fairground ring-the-bell affair. Using the muscle icons you manoeuvre the large mallet into position above the peg. Get this right and you can start pounding the keyboard to build uppower in preparation for the strike.

Tug of war is one of Geoff's strongest events. The icon selection routine is again the order of the day. Next, it's time to sing the lumberjack song as Geoff lays into a mighty redwood.

Finally we have the barrel loading, which is a killer. Joy stick waggling is needed to lift the barrel, followed quickly by icon selection to carry it to the truck.

Geoff Capes - Strongman requires a good balance of speed and skill, and is excellent value for money.

Steve Brook