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'Pencil and paper at the ready - you'll need it for this game! Satcom is well-written and well-presented; even the occasional graphics are pleasing to the eye. And the sound is reasonable, with special FX for telephones and beeps when you get a code wrong. This is very similar to the Hacker games, and at this price it's a must for brain-banging freaks!' NICK ... 76%

'If you approach this game as a follow-up to Supercom (CRASH Issue 28), you'll find some major improvements. Most of the important information changes each time you load the game, and there's no BASIC to hack into and find out all the codes. The simple input techniques have been replaced by a much more intelligent method, and there are some decent icons to speed things along. The presentation is informative and involving. You could say that this hacking game gets boring very easily ... but then so does the real thing! (Oh! Don't look forward to a great ending; it's extremely disappointing.)' PAUL ... 53%

Since the original Hacker - which was indeed original, well-thought-out, and enjoyable - I've become more and more bored with this sort of game. And tedium is an integral part of Satcom. If it were speeded up a little, and the process of finding telephone numbers were made a bit less dull after the first go, then Satcom might have some potential as a young child's logic game. But as it stands, it's far too easy: the difficult part isn't finding the brains to get anywhere, it's keeping awake long enough to see the pathetic congratulatory message that greets you at the end of your display of endurance. A cure for insomniacs' MIKE ... 21%