Of all the tennis games that have been released for the CPC, this one (known as Great Courts in France) has to be one of the smoothest and fastest. You start as the bottom-ranked player from a list of 17, and only by playing in tournaments such as the Australian, French and US Open, and of course Wimbledon, can you improve your ranking and become the number one player. The action is very fast indeed, so I reckon it's one of the most realistic tennis simulations on the CPC as well! However, the game is very playable; all you need to do to return the ball is to position yourself appropriately and press the fire button, and serving is no problem either. The graphics are very good, and they're even better in the cartridge version, which looks and feels almost like a different game.

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An alien race is threatening to take over a system of 38 planets, and naturally, you've got to stop them. This isn't a shoot-'em-up, though; instead, it's a time trial where you race at full throttle along 38 tunnels or vortices, one for each planet. The tunnels consist of tiles, and you must ensure that you stay on the tiles, or you will damage your spaceship and eventually crash. Some of the tiles affect your spaceship by jumping it over gaps, or teleporting you further along the tunnel - or further back if you're not careful. There are also restart points to make things easier. In fact, the game is much too easy; I completed it on my first go. It's still worth playing, though; I've never seen such a blindingly fast game on the CPC with 3D graphics.

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You have entered the World of Dreams, and are bouncing on a space hopper (remember them?) shooting bats and dwarves and collecting four pieces of a skull on each level. Well, dreams are nearly always completely detached from reality, aren't they? Controlling your space hopper isn't easy; you'll need to bounce a lot in order to increase your height so that you can reach other platforms, but you can't bounce on the spot, so you have to move left and right instead and try your best to avoid the energy-sapping monsters. Frankly, the inability to bounce on the spot makes this game quite frustrating to play, and excellent graphics and music can't make up for this.

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The advertisement for this game, which featured a Page 3 model, made a large number of fools part with their money, and what did they get? I'll tell you something - it wasn't value for money. It would have been all right on budget, but it certainly isn't suitable at full price. Anyway, you're a pig and have to blow up all the other pigs on the screen by collecting bombs and throwing them. It's too easy and there are hardly any graphics, but I thought it was an amusing way to waste a few minutes. The music is really cool as well!

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Seven favourite pub games - darts, billiards, dominoes, table soccer, pontoon, poker and skittles - are brought to you on the CPC. All of the games require you to play with a friend; you might want to take control of both players, but it's nowhere near as much fun. As for the games themselves, they're mostly average, with darts and skittles being the best ones to play. The graphics vary considerably, but sound effects are mostly absent, although there's a nice little tune on the menu. If you have someone else to play against, it's fun for a while.

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If your brain is full of useless facts and you feel like learning some more, then try this game. Up to four players can test their knowledge of music, sport, showbiz and trivia. Each round consists of answering five questions where you score points, followed by the 'money maze' where you can score both points and money (allowing you to continue if you get a question wrong). This pattern continues until you become bored. Eventually, after seeing the same questions many times, you will get past the first round, but with only three sets of questions that can be used, and not enough variety, it's not a game to become enthusiastic about. (The answer to the question in the screenshot is "March", by the way.)

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It's Breakout time once again, although I have to say that I actually like this one a bit. Instead of a ball, though, there is some sort of laser pulse which bounces about the screen, and if it collides with one of the creatures that roam at the top of the screen, it splits into two pulses, and if there are lots of creatures, there are going to be a lot of pulses, and things get quite hectic! Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities to get extra lives, and you'll need them. The graphics are nothing special, but the gameplay makes up for it, and you must listen to the music... it is truly excellent!

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Punch's stall has been dismantled and the pieces are scattered all over the seaside resort of Bridlington, with all its tacky cafés, shops and amusement arcades. You've got to find all the pieces and then find the cast who are also wandering the streets, before the tide comes in. Don't run into Mr. Policeman, though, or you'll be arrested! When you've done this, the show starts and you have to hit each of the cast repeatedly, again avoiding Mr. Policeman. The graphics aren't bad at all, but there are very few sound effects, and it becomes very boring as you wander the streets looking for the cast members.

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A total rip-off of the 1983 arcade game Hunchback, the aim of Punchy is to get to the left of the screen to the right, avoiding boulders and holes on the way. Once Punchy achieves his aim, it's on to the next level. And... that's it - really! Zero marks for the storyline! Anyway, the graphics are, to be honest, appalling (it was an early game, but still...), the sound is nothing special, and the difficulty veers crazily from absurdly easy to impossible (I mean this literally, as the level I'm stuck on has a huge pit, two ghosts and no way of getting across). Still, for all its negative points, it is still quite a lot of fun and is also quite addictive. Just don't expect to be blown away by it!

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