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The tomb door slams shut behind you. You can only go a short distance before a huge green rock blocks your path. No problem. Thunderbird 2 pushes it casually out of the way. The next problem is trickier though as you can't push the green block because a small yellow stone is jammed behind it. But if you use TB1 to push the blue stone along a bit, the yellow stone drops down and the green one can be moved as before. Easy!

Thunderbirds is a game based on the puppet show of the same name that was shown on TV in the early seventies and is still being repeated today. A team of acheologists has become trapped in an Egyptian tomb and sent out an SOS message. You are sent out to rescue them.

You control both TB1 and 2 with the fire button on the joystick being used to switch control between them. Before you start, you have the option of loading up TB2 with up to 40 tons of equipment. This includes weed-killer, a device called the mole, TB4, guided missiles and extra fuel. Every item that you select decreases your initial point score but I would advise taking a selection of objects with you until you become more experienced.

As you progress through the tomb, so there are more and more blockages which are increasingly difficult in nature. One TB is likely to have to backtrack through several screens in order to finish up in the right position to push a block from a specific direction. Other blocks on the screen have seemingly no use, but if you push them now, you can guarantee that they will be in the wrong place later on. The problems involved are very well designed and become fiendishly difficult as you progress further.

Interspersed throughout these tunnels are several action screens where you have to run the gauntlet through a maze protected by, for example, mummies or giant spiders. This is somewhat unrealistic when you realise how large a spider would have to be in order to dwarf a machine carrying a 40 ton payload! Help is available on some of these screens depending on what equipment you carry. For example, the weedkiller will destroy a giant plant that is blocking the easy route through a chamber.

There are several ways in which you can lose. If either TB runs out of fuel or is destroyed by alling masonry, it crashes into the other TB then the game is over. Each TB also has three lives, but contact with one of the nasties reduces this. If one of your TBs becomes bloced in (a frequent event!) then you can restart the game from the tomb entrance.

Thunderbirds is an excellent mid-priced game. OK, so the graphics aren't brilliant but it is mind-bogglingly addictive. If you want to give your brain a quick workout in the New Year, then look no further.