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CLARK KENT CHANGES HIS CLOTHES

It's enough to make even a grown superhero cry: first Christopher Reeves buzzes off to be a 'serious actor', then the horrendous Superboy appears, and worst of all I've got a demeaning job with Tynesoft.

My Tynesoft adventure starts at STAR laboratories, where Professor Corwin informs me that unusual seismic disturbances have been recorded across the Earth, threatening the whole planet. He must go to the STAR Lab Satellite to gather further data, so he asks me to escort his space shuttle. I must protect it from floating asteroids - these can't hurt me, but contact with shards of kryptonite temporarily disables my superpowers.

Once the satellite is reached, I must deactivate its security system. Then it's outside again to biff more asteroids before flying to the Lexcorp satellite; the apparent cause of the disaster. Fighting off defence robots, I must destroy a geo-disrupter in the satellite's core to save the Earth yet again.

Superman is one of my favourite comic heroes, but Tynesoft have really messed this licence up. Superman himself looks like a matchstick figure as he walks along the horizontally-scrolling sections. Gameplay is further ruined by an annoying multiload system. The best feature is a handy cheat mode, so you don't have to play the game!

MARK ... 38%

THE ESSENTIALS Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: a 'matchstick' Superman Sound: good title tune

'Is it a cassette? Is it a computer game? No, it's a load of crap! Honestly, I can't believe how such a good licence could be made so bad. Although Superman is immortal (due to DC Comics' insistence), every time he fails you must reload the first level. This would just about be tolerable if the gameplay was anything to shout about. Sadly, it's not, and neither are the simple graphics. About the only thing Superman has going for it is a decent rendition of the famous theme tune.'