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This is the Spectrum version of Gunship, the best flight/combat simulator available on the market today, based on the American-built Apache combat helicopter now coming into service with the US Army. Microprose has now produced Spectrum versions of most of their best-sellers. But Gunship has so much in it that the question was always whether they could fit it all into a Spectrum's memory and graphics.

I'm afraid that the short answer is no. The scenarios have all been kept, but the solid landscape view and multi-coloured map have been replaced by wire-frame hills and trees, and the cockpit layout is far harder to read than in other versions.

The problem is that Gunship is in fact so good. It is such a realistic and complex simulator that it needs split-second responses from the player, just like flying a real combat helicopter while trying to engage an enemy. This version, with its fuzzy graphics and trick controls, just isn't up to it.

The good news for Spectrum 128 owners is that if they send the game back to Microprose they will provide a single-cassette version instead of the three sides of tape.