Terminator Joystick

Your Sinclair

Precision 1/5

Strength 2/5

Manouevrability 1/5

Value For Money 1/5

Overall Performance 1/5

Howard King

Miles Tudor

Steven Brewer

THE JOY OF STICKS We've waggled our way through the joystick jungle to bring you the latest on the firepower of ten top joysticks. If you're a real games addict you'll know how important a good joystick is. Games have moved on a bit since Pacman and Space Invaders where all you had to do was move left and right and blast the fire button every now and again. Then you could use the same joystick for all the seven games on the market. Nowadays, however, computer games are much more demanding and varied - shoot 'em ups, beat 'em ups, fly 'em ups, waggle 'em ups, steer 'em ups and even fry 'em ups - they all need differing degrees of precision, manoeuvrability and strength. Which is why you need a damn good joystick for the job - and there are plenty to choose from. So there's no excuse for a bad game player to blame his tools! But which joystick is best for the games you play? Which joystick do you choose? There are thousands. And you've only got twenty quid. Well, it just so happens that we've got a run-down on 10 of the most popular sticks on the market - read on to find out which one covers your every need. THE GAMES A joystick's performance varies considerably from game to game. The precise movements needed in a martial arts game become redundant in an out and out waggle 'em up. And then, the strength and slackness of one stick might not help in a steering game where full control and manoeuvrability is necessary. So, in order to test the joysticks fully, we chose three different titles to strain those sticks to the limit. Target Renegade tests for precision, Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge for strength and Skate Crazy for manoeuvrability. And to make the contest even harder we asked three hot gamesplayers to give us their opinions on which sticks they preferred. TARGET RENEGADE A beefy beat 'em up. All that punching and kicking and butting requires a stick with easy access to diagonals and fire buttons, plus the ability to move slightly and quickly in any direction. SKATE CRAZY A loose and bouncy roller skate game, needing a combination of ease-of-movement and well positioned fire buttons for that sudden leap. A stick for this game will also need a strong shaft to resist those frantic circular steering motions. DALEY THOMPSON'S OLYMPIC CHALLENGE The meanest, the baddest and the toughest waggle 'em up in existence. The constant waggling environment requires a stick with excellent strength and good speed, coupled with a sturdy desk hold and well contoured grip. THE JURY Yes, solemn of face, tough of opinion, stingy of money, and ravenous of hunger, here are the three jury members, unswayable by money (or cheeseburger), ready to deliver their verdicts on the guilty sharp sticks. STEVEN BREWER Age: 16 Sex: Male Dist Features: Inane grin Computers: Speccy, QL Fave Rave: Gauntlet Hobbies: Grinning inanely, being enthusiastic about nothing Fave Music: U2 MILES TUDOR Age: 16 Sex: Twice a... (Snip. Ed) Dist Features: Bloodshot, knackered eyes Computers: I ain't got one, but if anybody's offerin'? Fave Rave: Target Renegade Hobbies: Sheep-spotting, train-spotting, spot-picking Fave Music: Prince HOWARD KING Age: 16 Sex: Male Dist Features: 'boyish good looks' Spluuter! Computers: Speccy 48K Fave Rave: Robin O' the Wood Hobbies: Boasting about his handicap (gold), kicking the dog 'bout a bit' Fave Music: Queen SPECTRAVIDEO QUICKSHOT 2 The Quickshot 2 is the father of most joysticks today, but its age does not show in its design. It has a square base, and a wide, sharply contoured handle as well as three fire buttons and an auto fire switch. It's four suckers stick relentlessly to any surface. The shaft is long and loose, which provides a fairly slowish response. The diagonals are difficult to locate in a hurry and it can't handle double movements (such as flying kicks) too well. It excels waggle-wise and the auto-fire switch is easily flicked on by the wrist. But despite all these faults, it works remarkably well in all games. Steve: 'Its slackness click irritated the hell out of my moody sister.' Miles: 'One old timer that's still up there with the new ones.' Howard: 'Ooh I'm a sucker for the suckers!' A little slow, a little temperamental, a little noisy - but what do you expect from a four year old joystick? Recommended. SUNCOM TAC 5 Now here's a very striking joystick - its beige and grey colouring is very chic, good-looking and elegant. The bulky square base sits on four studs and its size makes it unmoveably solid on a desk top even during savage waggling. There are three fire buttons. The stick moves with a very distinctive microswitch click that would annoy your parents and dogs. Movement is pretty good. The diagonals are excellent and there when you want them, although the stick does twist disconcertingly when you move it. It shines in all four departments but the granulated grip is a little too soft. Steve: 'I felt in full control when using this one. Great stuff.' Miles: 'Though it looks very "Habitat" I didn't find it very responsive.' Howard: 'I sweated so much the red directional marks rubbed off and I thought id cut myself!' Extremely attractive number with solid build, good diagonals and response. Annoying microswitch click, impotent fire button positioning and rub-off-when-wet paint let it down a little. Recommended. CHEETAH 125+3 The design of this joystick is very authentic, attractive and similar to the Quickshot 2. The base is robust and granulated for extra grip. It has four fire buttons. The stick, however, looks very plasticy and the seams were bluntly evident. The wide grip and tight throw allow magnificent handling although its size tends to make delicate or slight movements tricky. It responds quickly and smoothly especially in abrupt direction changes, despite the loud groans the stick emits under stress. Precision is perfect but in waggle-'em-ups, the stiffness of the stick prevents a good fast momentum. And it is simply perfect for games requiring manoeuvrability. Steve: 'The Cheetah 125+3 is the one for me - it's a beauty to handle!' Miles: 'I found this stick particularly useful in Skate Crazy which requires a lot of direction changes.' Howard: 'If only it would waggle better!' Outstanding all round joystick, authentically designed, furiously responsive, unbeatable steering but disappointing waggle-ratio. Recommended. POWERPLAY CRUISER The Cruiser is an instantly appealing and very attractive joystick, with its blue curved base, two-deep set white base buttons, and red standard stick. It rests solidly on four suckers on any desk top, but the curved design also suits the hand. The feature that really makes this joystick is the variable tension feature that allows you to select one of three degrees of tightness. The fire buttons are very well placed and click responsively. Diagonals are easy to find and direction changes are good. Adjusting the tension to number two helped in games requiring manoeuvrability, and as for waggling, number three seemed the best. The tightest tension (number one) worked best with Renegade. One of the less muscle-bound reviewers observed that the way you changed the tension (lifting then turning the stick) was quite difficult and a weak and feeble gamesplayer may find it a touch difficult. Steve: 'I'm a wimp so I found changing the tension awkward - I was so tired I couldn't play the game.' Miles: 'Not a bad little number for the all round gamesplayer. Worth, the money!' Howard: 'This is my top stick. It caters for everything and looks neat too!' Noisy but powerful joystick with unique variable tension option and multi-coloured "spaceship" look. Recommended. RAM DELTA The RAM Delia's design is very distinctive, futuristic and angular. The base is shaped like the front of a car while the shaft looks like a gear-stick. It's supported on three suckers placed at each corner, but holds just as well in the palm of your hand. Unfortunately it's shortness restricts precision, especially during hectic Renegade combat. Response is very polished and light, and the microswitches make the direction changes quick and substantial. While waggling, the small throw (the distance the stick moves in any direction) of the stick creates a good rhythm, but excess exertion leads to a sweaty slippery grip. All directional movements are springy, and the clicks of the switches are quiet and unobtrusive, yet loud enough to indicate when you had forced the joystick far enough. Steve: 'I liked the design but found handling a little awkward.' Miles: 'This one is definitely my favourite - I've never gripped such a nice stick!' Howard: 'Control is superb - and I loved those suckers!' Superb sculptured joystick, dedicated to those who like looks, body and character in their sticks. Recommended. EUROMAX PRO-ACE The Pro-Ace is a sturdy-based joystick with a long slender shaft and two fire buttons. The shaft is good and stiff but feels rather flimsy - as if it might break off at any moment. The lack of suckers and a firm base make it rock drunkenly on the desk during any frantic action. The fire buttons, however, are well placed and responsive. The throw is microscopic and renders waggling virtually useless. Described as emphatically pedestrian (What?? Ed) the Pro-ace steers quite well considering the limited throw, but the diagonals have to be forced and the shaft is too long for the field of Renegade movement. Steve: 'Not bad, not bad! I've used a better tool though!' Miles: 'Nice looking stick this - and it handles well too!' Howard: 'Cor this is rather good. I quite like it.' A stiff and flimsy affair, which rocks on the table and reacts very slowly. Steers well though. SUNCOM TAC 2 This small, square based joystick is the most solid on a desk top, and is compact, durable and quite rugged. It has two buttons The stick only moves slightly in each direction but triggers first-rate responses. However this light operation is let down by the overly (or underly) short shaft. The sensitivity is excellent and made both steering and diagonals a piece of cake. After a bout of waggling though, the handle became quite wet and one of the more sensitive reviewers suffered from a sore thumb after a heavy game of Renegade. Steve: 'This one was in a class of its own in playing Skate Crazy.' Miles: 'Not as good as the Suncom Tac 2 I'm afraid.' Howard: 'Tac is an apt name 'cos it's one of the tackiest objects I've seen.' Sturdy solid joystick, attractively metal-plated, is not so hot precision-wise but practically boiling in the steering field. KONIX SPEEDKING This unusually shaped joystick looks a little like a lost jigsaw piece and half a pelvis. It's very well designed for a hand held grip but so does not sit easily on the desk. The stick is a short red affair in arcade-machine stumpy style and is microswitched. It slides quickly into diagonal position and the small throw allows very fast direction change. But the same smallness restricts steering and makes the joystick feel disconnected in games like Skate Crazy where it only gives a fair degree of control. The smoothness of response is great for Renegade, and perfect waggle rhythm is a cinch to get going. The disparity of the design is difficult to get used to, and a sweaty session of waggling can make the stick very slippery. Steve: I just couldn't decide how to hold this one.' Miles: 'It looks quite natty and is a good all round joystick.' Howard: 'It's a bit small for my tastes.' Originally and economically designed, the Speedking is perfect for those who don't have a desk to lean on and don't sweat much while waggling. TERMINATOR Believe it or not this strange looking object really is a joystick. Shaped like a hand grenade (for the Rambo addicts?) this joystick is aimed more at the novelty and toy market rather than our serious 'executive' gamesplayer. The metallic fire button is the clip on the side, while the small Meccano stick juts out of the top. It sits well in your hand and is lighter than its explosive counterpart. As a joystick it's pretty useless, a nightmare to use and makes you want to go "aaarrghhh!". The fire button is awkwardly positioned and is easy to press unintentionally. The stumpy stick is awful for precision and all movements have to be shoved into direction, although the diagonals are easy to obtain. Obviously an excellent novelty and gimic but not very useful as a serious tool. Steve: 'The slippery stick is hideous and waggling is bleuuuch!' Miles: 'I really couldn't get to grips with this one.' Howard: 'I reckon you'd get arrested if you walked into a bank carrying this!' Excellent 'macho' gimic that looks exactly like a grenade with a piece of Meccano stuck in the top. Absolutely rubbish as a joystick though. VOLTMACE DELTA 3S The old fashioned prehistoric design makes the Volt mace Delta an instant turn off, but it's not as bad as it looks. Shaped like a door wedge, the Delta has three fire buttons and a small orbiting stick. It's quite awkward to hold and is happier on a desk top. The three red base buttons are too far away and tiny - rather like TV remote control buttons. The stick is also too small and weedy making small turns and movements virtually impossible - to go anywhere you have to exaggerate the movements. Changes in the direction and precision are easy because of the movable stick and the wide gap for movement, but the diagonals are spindly. Waggle-wise it performs surprisingly well and with the minimum cramp or restriction. Steve: 'I wish I could say this is a pleasure to use - but it isn't.' Miles: 'Urrggh! This one looks like a bar of Dairy Milk - shame you can't eat it!' Howard: 'If you like waggling, you'll like this!' Prehistoric design is not too attractive but it sits comfortably on your desk despite spindly diagonals and misplaced fire buttons. Comparatively outstanding at waggling. VERDICT It was a close thing with each reviewer snuggling up to their favourite sticks, and beating each other about the head with their not so favourite ones. But in the end the Cheetah 125+ scraped into first place, with the RAM Delta and Powerplay Cruiser coming second and third respectively, closely followed by the Konix Speedking and Quickshot 2. The overall positioning was: 1. CHEETAH 125+ 2. RAM Delta 3. POWERPLAY Cruiser 4. KONIX Speedking 5. SPECTRAV1DEO Quickshot 2 6. SUNCOM TAC 5 7. SUNCOM TAC 2 8. VOLTMACE Delta 3s 9. EUROMAX Pro-Ace 10. TERMINATOR Now for the votes on the best and worst buys. Here's what the reviewers had to say and they mean that most sincerely folks! STEVEN BEST - Cheetah 125+ "Magnificent handling... brilliant fire buttons... a real treat." WORST- Terminator "Aaarghhhhh... awful... my goldfish steers better than this." MILES BEST- RAM Delta 'Looked quite sexy... the knob was really nice... good and springy." WORST- Terminator "Bleuchhh!... Terrible... Looks too much like a hand grenade and 1 didn't know to hold it." HOWARD BEST - Powerplay Cruiser 'Fits well in the hand... stands out... good stuff and the stick variable tension - wow!" WORST - Terminator "Yicckkk!... a nightmare... it's bad, really, really bad." 1st Place Supplier: Cheetah Marketing Ltd, [redacted] Price: £12.99 Guarantee: 1 year Features: A C D E F G

FEATURES A- Suckers B - Studs C - Thumb Button D - Trigger Type Button E - Base Button F - Auto Fire G - +2/+3 Compatible H - Metal Shaft I - Miscroswitches

SCORES 1 - Eeek! 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Excellent

TOP TEN TIPS WHEN BUYING A STICK 1. Don't be taken in by sales blurb. Disregard phrases like "the greatest ever joystick " or "the most responsive on the market" plastered on the packaging. Stay in touch with the real world. 2. Consult a guide (ie, this one). 3. Decide beforehand how much you are prepared to pay. There are two sides to the market: budget (five to seven pounds) and the not so budget (ten to twenty pounds). 4. Keep in mind the type of games you'll be playing. If you're a shoot 'em up addict you'll want a stick with good manoeuvrability and a well-placed fire button: if you're a flight sim man you won't want a tiny effort. 5. Check for +2/+3 compatibility. More often than not, if a stick is compatible it will be supplied with two leads or an adaptor. Otherwise search around for a suitable interface. 6. When buying an interface, stick to names you know. 7. Search through mail order firms (like DATEL) for good prices and special offers. Often you can buy an interface and a joystick in a combined cheap package. 8. If possible, ask to test the joystick. Not necessarily with a game, but just move it around and get a feel for it. Test the tension, consider the looks, examine the quality. 9. Check out the guarantee. Don't accept under a year for any joystick. 10. Keep in mind, the amount of desk space you have. Buy a hand held model if you have no space.

WARNING Before you rush out and buy a brand new joystick, remember you'll need a joystick interface too. Rubber keyboard owners have always needed one and although Amstrad included a joystick port on the Plus 2 and 3, it's only compatible with Amstrad joysticks, so you'll still need an interface for Kempston and Cursor sticks. Got that?

Sinclair User

Machismo 5/5

Knockdown 3/5

Dumbness of Purchase 2/5

Unknown

GIVIN' IT SOME STICK Do you want to be an object of derision? Do you want your family to shun you, your friends to laugh at you, and total strangers to point you out in the street with a contemptuous sneer? No? Then what are you doing with that naff old joystick? Just chill out, dude. Your joystick says more about you than cash ever can, so swap some of the folding stuff for a new weapon this Christmas. Ratings are scored out of a maximum of five in three categories: Machismo (how much does it make you perform like Arnold Schwarzenegger), Knockdown Factor (how much it makes you perform like Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Dumbness Of Purchase (how much does it make you think like Arnold Schwarzenegger). THE TERMINATOR Supplier: Robtek PRICE: £19.95 This was the most original idea at the recent PCW Show - which says something about how dismal the rest of it was. The Terminator is a Dutch import, but you don't need language lessons to use it. Shaped exactly like a hand grenade, this matt black terror comes complete with a firing pin (don't try pulling it off - you'll just break it!) and a handle, which is in fact the trigger. The knobless shaft projects from the top, and while it might be too small for pudgy fingers, the action is precise. Bound to be dreadful, you might think, but no! With its reliable microswitch construction and ideal shape for either rightor left-handers, The Terminator is a surprisingly good stick, masquerading as a gimmick. Pity there's no auto-fire; GRRR! That sort of thing makes me MAD!!!

Crash

Ben Stone

Dominic Handy

CHRISTMAS LISTE Ben and Dom, Crash, [redacted]. What's small and black and bursts the seams of a stocking? A Spectrum add-on, of course - there are hundreds of little black boxes for music, printing, screen art and program transfer. Dominic Handy suggests some utilities and hardware for the Christmas list, and Ben Stone brings joysticks to the world - but don't fight over them, or they'll all be broken by little black Boxing Day. JOYSTICKES TERMINATOR Supersoft £19.9 Like most pointless street cred - take Raybans, expensive earplugs on a Radio Shack personal stereo and the Beastie Boys - the Terminator does serve a purpose, but only just. And its wacky design takes a lot of getting used to. Being so tiny the Danish stick has a lot of travel, so it's quite unresponsive. And the fire pin is difficult to use: you have to hold the grenade and fire with the same hand, but you can get it to work fairly quickly it you're prepared to go through hand-ache agony. The Terminator is all but indestructible, made of very thick plastic and durable electrical parts, but for nearly 20 quid I'd expect something a little more efficient than this. OMPETITION PRO 5000 Dynamics £14.95 (£15.95 with transparent case, Competition Pro Extra £16.49 with autofire and go-slow mode) This is THE joystick. The fire action is brilliant and the stick performs like a dream. It looks much the same as the Euromax Professional, but for just a pound more you can get it with high-tech clear casing (as in the picture). It's durable, because the shaft is made of steel and the microswitched mechanism inside is remarkably simple (and pretty much user-serviceable). The fire buttons work with reed switches, sometimes considered unreliable, but I've never had any trouble. Sadly, there's no autofire on either model, though there's a souped-up version on the market (the Competition Pro Extra) with autofire option and a go-slow mode never before seen on any joystick. SPEEDKING Konix £11.99 (£12.99 with autofire) The Speedking was a novelty when it appeared - the first truly hand-held joystick that worked well. It's easy to use, though it has the problem of the Euromax Professional in reverse: the diagonals are a pig to find and use quickly, which makes playing games like fighting sims very difficult. The position of the fire button really makes your hand ache if you're pressing it a lot - shoot-'em-ups turn into a nightmare when you're doing well! - though it would be difficult to have it anywhere else on the compact little body of the Speedking. There is a Speedking with autofire available. Earlier this year Konix claimed one Speedking lasted for 17,604,000 waggles (that's 27 days of nonstop waggling, folks!), but the story is not now believed, Our Waggling Editor writes. PROFESSIONAL Euromax £15.95 (£18.95 with autofire) The Euromax Professional has most of the features now becoming standard in the joystick world: posey design and microswitches, and an autofire option if you want to pay a bit extra. (It's the autofire version in the picture.) At first it's a little difficult to get to grips with, literally, because it's biased slightly to the diagonals. Theoretically this means the joystick's eight directions are equally easy to use, but in practice the stick often slips out of the vertical/horizontal into a diagonal. But the Euromax Professional has a brilliant fire action. And it's a great stick for games where deft, precise movements aren't needed; it feels rather flimsy, but the couple that were in the office had fairly long lives considering the hammering a CRASH joystick gets! 125 SPECIAL Cheetah £12.99 This new joystick, introduced in last issue's PCW Show report, has the usual eight directional controls as well as two independent fire buttons - and a special rotate function which allows the player to twist the joystick for extra-realistic movement. Of course a joystick of such complexity needs more than the usual five pin in/outputs; you'll have to have an extra joystick port, or use both ports on the +2 and +3/. There is an autofire function. IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER MIDI INTERFACE Cheetah Marketing £49.95 With this interface box and accompanying software you can control any MIDI instrument via the Spectrum. It's superb for people who can write music but can't play - just enter the notes and the computer plays the instrument. Or do it the other way round: you play the music and the computer puts it into musical notation. Including a MIDI lead for connecting the interface to your instrument, the MIDI interface was reviewed in issue 40. MK5II KEYBOARD Cheetah Marketing £199.95 This 61-key fully polyphonic board with foot switch and MIDI output ports comes packed in a rugged steel case. It's an ideal accessory to Cheetah's MIDI interface. MUSIC MACHINE Ram Electronics £49.95 'One of the best all round music add-ons for the Spectrum' - Jon Bates, Issue 34. A sound sampler, sequencer, editor, drum machine and composer all in one little black interface, the popular Music Machine is supported by a wide range of software. Recent additions include Quasar Software's Sample Editor (reviewed last issue) and Tectrics's chord construction kit Compuchord (Issue 45). SPECDRUM Cheetah Marketing £29.95 Now the standard drum add-on for the Spectrum, the SpecDrum comes complete with eight samples of real drum sounds. Extra drum sounds can be loaded in from tape: the Electro Kit and Afro Kit both retail at £4.99 and the older Latin Kit at £3.99, and all come complete with their own editors. The SpecDrum plugs into most hi-fis via a connecting phone lead. Jon Bates enthused over it in Issue 27. MUSIC TYPEWRITER Romantic Robot £7.95 Coming complete with keyboard overlays (48/+), this clever piece of software is a sophisticated tool for music on the Spectrum. Music written on Music Typewriter is displayed onscreen using realistic graphics which can be dumped to most dot-matrix printers, so you can print your own music. And your compositions aren't limited to Music Typewriter - all your tunes can be converted to machine code for use in your own programs. Jon Bates went sharpening and flattening on Music Typewriter in Issue 16. PRINTING MULTIPRINT Romantic Robot £39.95 A printer interface with all the options, the Multiprint can dump any Spectrum screen to an Epson-compatible printer in three different densities - it's handy for listings, too. There's more info in Issue 43. RAM PRINT Ram Electronics £34.95 Not only does this little black box drive your printer using a very easy menu-driven system (all stored on a ROM chip), it's also useful for those apres-Christmas 'thank you' letters because it comes with a built-in word processor, accessible from BASIC at any time and also on ROM. And if you ever get bored of all those line feeds and ESCape codes you can always plug your joystick in the built-in Kempston port and bash away at a game. See the details in issue 35. FOR THE ARTIST THE OCP ART STUDIO THE ADVANCED OCP ART STUDIO Rainbird £14.95, £24.95 'Probably the best art utility on the Spectrum' - Mike Dunn (On The Screen Editor). Need we say more? Several versions of the mouse- and joystick- compatible Art Studio utility are available for different Spectrum setups; The Advanced OCP Art Studio, which really needs an Interface One and microdrive to use its full potential, is much more powerful than the original. It has a Scrapbook library facility so you can combine and paste together pictures. Issues 24 and 40 have reviews of The OCP Art Studio and The Advanced OCP Art Studio respectively. VIDEO DIGITISER Sunset £128.00 Ever wanted to change Prince Charles's ears, or rub out out that blot on Gorbachov's forehead? You can do this and more, provided you've a video recorder, with the Sunset Video Digitiser. This little black box has all the connections for grabbing TV pictures from the video and then using them anywhere you want - even in games. Sadly, there's no printer ribbon that will put them onto T-shirts. Franco Frey got frame-grabbing in issue 31. VIDEOFACE DIGITISER Romantic Robot £69.00 plus £1.00 postage and packing The Videoface Digitiser is amazingly cheap and fast - it's all here. You can grab and scan three pictures a second, and then produce a very realistic animation sequence using up to six screens. At about hall the price of the Sunset Video Digitiser, this represents unbelievable value for money. NOT A CREATURE IS STIRRING, EXCEPT FOR A MOUSE KEMPSTON MOUSE Kempston Data £49.95 There's no WIMPing out with Kempston's version of the yuppie controller, with button eyes and connecting tail. Don't forget to lock up your cheeseboard and keep the cats indoors. Kempston is still bundling Rainbird's OCP Art Studio with this rodent at £69.95. Or those with a Spectrum +3 you can get Kempston's new Desktop utility package for +3 DOS and the mouse for exactly the same price. COMCON Frei £17.95 (single port), £19.95 (twin port) This is guaranteed to work with any product that uses the Spectrum keyboard. By connecting the six plugs to the miniature keyboard add-on you can have eight directions and TWO independent fire buttons (provided you have the correct joystick - also available from Frei). A twin-port version is also available for complex games. Lloyd reviewed the single-port version way back in Issue Eight. AND... MULTIFACE ONE, MULTIFACE 128, MULTIFACE 3 Romantic Robot £39.95, £44.95, £44.95 'One of the most versatile and user-friendly units on the market' - CRASH Issue 29 - Romantic Robot's Multifaces are ideal for the serious gameplayer or utility user with a fast storage device: they can put cassette games on Beta, Opus and Kempston disks. The Multiface 3 (pictured) can transfer cassette programs for the Spectrum and 128 to the - +3's Amstrad disks. It was welcomed in Issue 45 as a good reason to buy the +3, though Sixword's Swift Disc and Rockfort Product's Disciple are also worthwhile disk systems. The Multifaces have other uses: most POKEs can be entered using the ROM-based toolkit. And printer-owners are also catered tor with a COPY command, ideal for dumping your greatest high scores! All these options are available at any time at the press of a little red button. CRASH first saw the Multiface One in Issue 26. PLUS D Miles Gordon Technology £49.95 (£129.95 with 3.5-inch 780K-capacity disk drive) The Plus D is a new disk and printer interface from the designers of Rockfort Product's Disciple. Its Snapshot button will save all 48K and 128K cassette programs to disk, it's claimed, and the interface can make single and double-size screen dumps to a printer. The Plus D is also available in a package with a disk drive. GAMMA-STRIKE Gamesware £24.95 Gamesware's Gamma-Strike target-shooting system is a novel combination of hardware and software - you plug a target into the Spectrum, shoot at it with a model gun and watch the computer monitor your score! It's all done with the latest signal-detection techniques, and Gamesware promises more 'plug-in games' including darts and snooker soon... look out for the CRASH review. Thank you Santa, lots of luv Ben and Dom xxxxx