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The evil Redmen have captured the ITA Express as it hurtles towards an unknown doom. As a special security agent you have to "Stop The Express" on your 48K Spectrum and round-up the Redmen before the train reaches the border, when they will be out of your jurisdiction and free.

There are two stages. In the first you have to run across the top of the train, jumping each carriage as you reach it. You must be careful, however, to avoid the attempts by the villains to eliminate you with their knives or fists. You should also beware of the low-flying electric pylons above your head.

Despite the near impossibility of your mission you have one friend, the Snakebird, which you can catch as you travel over the carriages and release into the arms of the Redmen, who will suffer the same fate they had planned for you.

Once you have completed stage one you will be able to get inside the train, where Redmen and other assorted nasties will lunge at you, trying to shorten your life.

If you reach the end of the train, the express will start to slow and you will be congratulated on your efficiency as an agent. Then you are promptly dumped on top of the train again to run the gauntlet with more Redmen in the next round.

Stop The Express is well on its way to being a classic game. The idea is original and the graphics are of cartoon quality. It is also difficult enough to be addictive and, even when you have discovered the second level, you will want to keep playing.

Sinclair Research only occasionally releases a piece of software which establishes itself as an industry standard. This is one of those occasions.