Daley Thompson's Supertest

Crash

Overall 83%

Nick Roberts 83%

The Hit Squad £2.99 Daley Thompson's Super Test includes all the favourite sporting events to try your hand for joystick) at. Featuring pistol shooting, cycling, spring board diving, giant slalom, rowing, penalties, ski jump and even a tug-o'-war, there's bound to be something to tickle your fancy. Graphically, it's good, with plenty of neat animation and lots of colour; it's also superbly presented. With controls changing from event to event, a thorough reading of the instructions is a must to get anywhere. My personal favourite event is the rowing - except I always thought oars were for splashing people in other boats with, not rowing! Brilliant!

Your Sinclair

Overall 76%

Marcus Berkmann 76%

BARGAIN BASEMENT As those modern philosophers Status Quo once said, "Down down deeper and down, down down deeper and down." MARCUS BERKMAN trips in the stairwell... DALEY THOMPSONS SUPER TEST Hit Squad £2.99 Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann Even further back into the archives here - this Daley Thompson game dates from the days when Daley Thompson actually used to win things - 1985. Actually, for those days, this isn't half bad - a bit of a joystick juggler, to be sure (I always prefer playing those sorts of game on a rubber keyboard, but then I'm just an old perv) but not a bad one at that, For the two days of your eight event decathlon you've got to be unbelievably brilliant at everything, and then some. There's pistol shooting, cycling, spring-board diving (very tricky this), giant slalom, rowing, penalty kicking, ski-jumping and then, just when you're beginning to think about putting your feet up with a nice cup of Ovaltine, a tug o' war Gasp! More than half of these use the juggling technique, but there's enough variety to keep your spirits up, which is more than can be said of many Track And Field variants from this time. It has shown its age, but at the time it sold simply trillions of copies, and it's not entirely difficult to see why. A nifty and well-planned package.

Daley - he's no wet sissy. (Unlike the panel - they're about to get soaked!)

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Overall 89%

Spectrum £2.99 The old Lucozade man himself has had three games made about him. This is the second in the series, which continues on from the classic joystick smasher, Daley Thompson's Decathlon, with a further eight events to squeeze you, tease you and break your wrist in umpteen places. Events are many and varied, and include Pistol Shooting which entails shooting at spinning targets to gain a qualifying score, spring-board diving, cycling and other such lovely things. Daley gets three chances to qualify on each event - if he fails all three, he's out and must begin from the beginning. Supertest couldn't ever hold the magic which the original Decathlon game possessed, but having said that it's a much slicker title, with more events, better graphics and not nearly as much wrist-aching joystick waggling to be done. It's a smashing game and, for £2.99, you'd be a bit of a dribbly to miss it.

Sinclair User

Graphics 58%

Sound 65%

Playability 72%

Lastability 57%

Overall 62%

Garth Sumpter 62%

Label: Hit Squad Price: £2.99 Reviewer: Garth Sumpter He's back! Britain's favourite pop drinking athlete is back on target to take the tape - well certainly the cassette tape (titter). Yes, Daley Thompson's Supertest is back - this time on the Hit Squad label where he's competing in events that we didn't even know he could do - all, of course, with a little help from you. There are 12 events in all that cover Tug o' War, Pistol Shooting, Rowing, Giant Slalom, Spring Board Diving, Cycling, Ski Jump, Penalties, 110m Hurdles, 100m Sprint, Triple jump and Javelin. The action is all aka the arcade and the best way to play is undoubtedly by keyboard as you must use the old left and right key bashing mode to build up energy or speed and the fire button to shoot bullets, jump off the ski slope etc at the right time. Each event has a qualifying time or score that you must achieve in order to complete the whole series of events but I must admit that I thought the Summer/Winter/Autumn/Any old time is party time group of games were great when they first came out but do we really want to bash the hell out of our Spectrum keyboards/joysticks? I don't but Daley certainly does and this he does to reasonable effect. The graphics are a little on the simple side and the whole game, whilst quite jolly, is now a fairly tired product. Even Daley's gone into retirement nowadays and this game really should follow his example.

"It's my cuddly bunny rabbit, give him back!" Looks like Daley's involved in a tug of love that could stretch on and on and on.....

After the day's chores are over, what could be better than to row along the river and watch all the number 6's as they roost along.

Your Sinclair

Rachael Smith

128 GAMES And so they came - the first trickle of 128 games. Sinclair cleverly made sure that the software was there, ready for the new machine. But most of the first releases have been expanded versions of existing titles, and we all know, don't we, that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better? After all, it's what you do with it that counts. So here it is - the highly personal, Rachael J Smith guide to those first ten releases. DALEY THOMPSON'S SUPERTEST 128 Ocean £6.95 Reviewer: Rachael Smith Try as you might you won't be able to avoid this one - it comes bundled with the machine which indicates that Sinclair has enormous faith in their keyboard, considering 128's joystick compatible problems. Yes, this is the one to punish the membrane, representative of the first era of sport simulations. There's lotsa frantic finger action as you row, cycle, ski and jump. Still frustratingly addictive, if hard on the wrist. The new version at least avoids multi-loads and contains a natty Chariots Of Fire theme. So there they are, ten offerings for the 128. All benefit from having their amplified sound blasted out through the TV, and where the new sound chip has been used to full effect it's like suddenly being able to hear after years of deafness. But while there are things here to appeal to the person who's never owned a Spectrum before, I can't see much point in duplicating a game unless you were a big fan of the original. And that means that we're not yet in a position to say whether the 128 itself is worth buying. We'll have to wait until games that make full use of that extra memory - that do things that can't be achieved in 48K - appear before we all decide to trade in our old machines.

Crash

Julian Rignall

ALL THE LITTLE EXTRA BITS Julian Rignall, for it is he, puts down the joystick attached to his Commodore 64, wanders into the CRASH office and has a quick look at the game we've received for the 128K Spectrum. Between thee and me, he ended up well impressed - a diehard Commie 64 man, Jaz left the office muttering about buying the new Spectrum. Can't be bad news for Sinclair, that.... Hmmmm, a Spectrum with added bits? What would they be? I wondered. Wheels, a bit of whoosh, twiddly things? Nope, none of these - just extra RAM and an on-board hot plate to keep your coffee warm as you bash the baddies through the night. Well, it's not really a hot plate, but it doesn't half act like one. Anyway, what do these extra features mean to yer average gamesplayer on the street? Two 128 games are given away with the computer: Daley Thompson's Supertest and The Neverending Story. Daley's appeared on the Spectrum some time ago, and the original game had eight events which were loaded in two parts. The new 128 version has an extra four events: the javelin, 100m sprint, 110m hurdles and the triple jump along with the eight others and they're all loaded in a single go, making the game far more jolly and varied to play. Ocean have also made use of the 128's three-channel sound capability: excellent music accompanies the title screen and jingles play before and after each event. The whole game is far better than the 48K original and is a great freebie! The other game in the package is the official adventure of the film The Neverending Story. Again, the original version was a multiloader, although this time the game came in four chunks. The 128 version is another single load program, which makes it far more enjoyable to play. Again it's free, so you can't really complain. IN THE CHIP FACTORY Moving on to the 128 games you'll have to pay money for, Hewson's take the prize for releasing the very first 128K game - Technician Ted - the Megamix. Technician Ted 48K first appeared early last year, earning a CRASH Smash for programmers Steve Marsden and David Cooke. What Hewson have done is taken the original torturous platform arcade adventure and expanded it, making it twice as big - now there are over 100 different screens and thirty tasks to complete. AAAAAGGGH you might say, those lousy sadists... the original Tech Ted was bad enough!! The gameplay is radically different and the whole program has been 'tweaked' to take advantage of the new machine's capabilities. But don't fret poor things, each of the tasks has now been numbered so at least you know which task you're supposed to tackle next; the only problem is finding out how you complete them. Three channel music adds extra atmosphere to the game as you whizz around the factory. A special mention must go to the loader - it tells a story whilst the game loads and the music is superbly done. £7.95 buys you this piece of arcade adventuring action, only £2 more than the 48K original. ALL A BIT OF A WHIRL Gargoyle Games have also taken a tentative leap upon the 128 bandwaggon and whizzed out Sweevo's Whirled(sic) which is available for £9.95 - no increase. Capturing all those horrible Wijurs has now been made an even more difficult task with an extra fifty rooms to confuse and confound all you budding androids. There are some new images too - ginormous noses stick up through the floor (but luckily there are no huge bogeys to foul up our intrepid android's workings), fingers which make strange indecipherable (LMLWD) signs and there is also a curious lampost... I don't know what it does because I haven't seen the light (laugh, you philistines). Obviously there are no musicians at Gargoyle because there is no three channel sound, but the tune does sound better because it comes through the telly. CHATTY AND TUNEFUL Odin's Robin of the Wood and Nodes of Yesod have been souped up and join the handful of titles currently available for the 128K machine. The game elements and playing area of both 128 versions are unchanged but they now feature excellent music (as good as the Commodore any old day, believe me 'cos I'm a horrible ZZAP! reviewer). Also, a nice surprise awaits you... both programs talk. Yup, they do, and it's not too bad - a lot better than the dalek with laryngitis stuff that the old Spectrums used to burble out. 128 owners can hear Robin shouting "OW" when he gets an arrow in a painful place, and "give me a chance!!" a few seconds before he shuffles off this mortal coil. The game welcomes the player by saying "Can you help Robin in his quest for the silver arrow" upon loading - real arcade stuff! Nodes follows a similar path on the 128, with Champagne Charlie moaning and groaning as he trundles round the moon's underground caverns in his search for alchiems. You're also told when his life energy is running low, just in case you don't notice... wheee! Arc of Yesod is expected in the office any day now, and includes the fire option that was missing from the 48K version which should make it much more fun to play. Once again Odin have kept pretty much to the same game, but enhanced the product with speech and music. Odin are selling their 128 games for £9.95 - the same price charged for the originals. PARADISE EXPANDED Mikro-Gen's game Three Weeks in Paradise, which collected a CRASH Smash in its 48K incarnation last month, has been extended for the new machine and costs a pound extra, making it £10.95. The plot has grown a little, so completing the 128 game involves a lot more adventuring. Six new screens have been patched onto the game (go through the plug to find them). Some three channel music kicks the game off, otherwise the sound is much the same. FOR SKUFFLE FANS Fighting fans will no doubt be pleased to hear that Domark have added a pound to the price of Gladiator for the 128, making it £9.95. For the extra pennies you get two different graphics for the combatants - in the original version both gladiators were identical except for their weapons. Sound hasn't been upgraded a great deal - a sort of fairground tune plays on the menu screen and after a gladiator has been killed, and bopping noises indicate a hit on your opponent. One, two or four people can play the 128 version which includes ten new screens and a fairly polished demo mode. Essentially, however, the gameplay remains the same.

The 128 version of DALEY THOMPSON'S SUPERTEST has four new events and loads in one (long) chunk. Here's the javelin event for you to admire.

ZX Computing

The Spectrum 128's that were ghosted into software houses around the country during the past few months came out into the open at the official 128 launch. Programmers have been feverishly preparing games to ensure the machine has credible software support. Despite assurances that 48k games run on the 128, to potential buyers this may seem like fitting a moped engine into a Ferrari. Compatibility is of course an asset but the machine's viability rests on the utilisation of its added features for games writing. The software houses have come up with a miscellany of revamped classics using the 128's new capabilities to varying degrees. Games written specifically for the 128 are in the pipeline but the first offerings are reviewed below. DALEY THOMPSON SUPER-TEST Ocean £9.95 To force home the point that the 128 is intended as a games machine Sinclair have included Daley Thompson's Super Test with the machine. To add to the key battering strain of the original Ocean have extended the program to include four more events, 100m Sprint, Javelin, Triple Jump and Hurdles. As before timing and sustained attacks on the keyboard/joystick are the key to success and with improved graphics and sound effects the 12 event package represents good value even though it costs £2 extra than the 48K version.

Daley Thomnpson Super-Test

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

Chris Bourne 4/5

Publisher: Ocean Price: Free with 128K Spectrum Memory: 128K Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Sinclair The world-famous T-shirt enthusiast is back again in a repeat showing of some of his favourite events, in the 128 version of Daley Thompson's Supertest. Twelve separate events are included, four from Daley's Decathlon and all eight from the sequel, the 48K Supertest. The full list of simulated sports is: rowing, penalties, ski-jump, tug of war, triple jump, 100m spring, javelin, 110 hurdles, pistol shoot, cycling, spring board diving, and giant slalom The game takes an enormous time to load, but all the events go in at once, so you don't have to mess about playing four or five at a time - though you still only get three lives for the whole lot. That makes things a good bit more difficult. For those who are not yet aware of such novel concepts as joystick fatigue, there are two basic techniques involved in playing these games. Smashing the joystick left and right at high speed builds up power, speed, energy or whatever, and pushing the fire button at just the right moment for the correct length of time will allow you to hit targets, jump, throw things at the correct angle and so on. The game opens with a dramatic rendition of the theme tune from Chariots of Fire to put you in the mood. Short bursts of alleged music link the various sports and new sounds have been put into some of the events for firing pistols. The eight Supertest events look very much the same as the original events, but the four from Daley's Decathlon have been juiced up to a similar standard of graphics. The old flickery Daley is now much more solid and the backgrounds are more pleasantly coloured. This sort of compilation program, while it offers nothing of any great novelty, makes sense on the 128. It is a distinct advantage to be able to play all the events on a single load. Our rating is not, of course, based on value for money as Supertest is free with the Spectrum 128, at least for the time being. In the meantime, it's a good addictive game for new users to get into quickly and will obviously have a wide appeal.

The following pages show a selection of games for the Spectrum 128 and include Daley Thompson's Supertest and NeverEnding Story which come free with the machine.

ZX Computing

Graphics 5/5

Addictiveness 4/5

Overall 5/5

Ocean £6.95 The very title of this one is enough to send the most robust of joysticks on strike and make the keyboard tremble in fear - Yep, it's another left/right-as-fast-as-you-can test of finger or wrist stamina! I must admit that I did not like this type of game at first but then it grew on me until now I am hooked. The success of a game of this nature depends on the quality and realism of the graphics, no-one is going to work up a sweat over moving an indistinct blob around, so how have Ocean done? Well I'm sure owners of DT's Decathlon would have no doubts, the graphics are just as good if not better than before and Ocean should have another well deserved hit on their hands. Even though all the games have only left/right and sometimes fire as controls there is enough variation and judgment required to prevent them from becoming tedious. A brief run down and description of the events on side one is: PISTOL SHOOTING, move cursor around the screen to random target and fire at centre. CYCLING, L/R as fast as possible. SPRING BOARD DIVING, 3 bounces and L/R for somersaults. GIANT SLALOM, steer L/R through the flags as they scroll up the screen toward you. ROWING, L/R as fast as you can. PENALTIES, L/R for speed, line up on football, fire to shoot. SKI JUMP, L/R for speed, fire to jump and land. TUG O'WAR, L/R for power. Each one needs slightly different techniques to succeed and I personally enjoyed the shooting and ski jump whilst the tug O'war and diving gave me a lot of frustration.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Judy Simpson

MACHINE: Spectrum/CBM 64/Amstrad SUPPLIER: Ocean PRICE: £6.95 (Spectrum), £7.95 (CBM 64), £8.95 (Amstrad) Daley Thompson's Super Test is worthy sequel to the original Decathlon. It consists of eight new events spread over two days of competition. Day One consists of pistol shooting, cycling, spring board diving and the giant slalom. Day Two covers rowing, penalty kicks, the ski-jump and tug o' war. The Spectrum version has clear graphics and a nice screen layout. Great fun with a lot of events at a reasonable price. Judy 's verdict: I thought it was okay. I don't think the instructions are very good and you don't get enough time to choose things - at least not for me.

British and former Commonwealth Heptathlon record holder Judy Simpson knows all about the skill, guts and dedication needed to compete in the world of top class athletics in seven gruelling events. So she seemed just the right person to undertake the C+VG sports games review challenge. Judy and her husband Robbie travelled from her home in Coventry and entered the special arena constructed in a spare few thousand square feet of C+VG's London offices to review this year's top sports games. Judy, who owns a Commodore 64, likes to play games in both the arcades and on her computer.

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

Colette McDermott 4/5

Publisher: Ocean Price: £6.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Any Can Daley Thompson keep up the pace of Decathlon with his new Super-Test? There are eight new events with all but one requiring the agonizing bashing technique of successive key pressing or rapid left and right joystick movement for building and maintaining speed. Events such as cycling, pistol shooting, rowing, goal scoring and tug o' war are straightforward, while others - spring board diving, ski jump and slalom - require speed and additional co-ordination. With the ski jump Daley descends the slope, takes off near the edge and lands safely. All three movements are controlled by you. In the diving event his take-off height, number of somersaults achieved and entry into the water are again your domain. The format remains the same as Decathlon in that scores and qualifying times are displayed, but there are no stamina plus energy-sapping combinations, like the 400 metres, and only one event has an 'angle-ometer'. The graphics are large, clear and colourful. Great care has been taken to create an environment allowing you to enjoy watching and playing. For instance, the ski jump scene is split into three windows, one showing a close-up side view of Daley on the slope while the other two show side and elevated views of the course. Both sides of the cassette have been filled, which makes it very reasonably priced.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)C+VG Blitz Game

Graphics 9/10

Sound 7/10

Value 9/10

Playability 9/10

MACHINE: Spectrum/CBM 64/Amstrad SUPPLIER: Ocean PRICE: £6.95 (Spectrum), £7.95 (CBM 64), £8.95 (Amstrad) And you thought there were enough sports games on the shelves of your local computer store already! Well, make room for one more - for despite the fact that you've probably played Hypersports, Decathlon, Superstar Challenga and Summer Games II and Daley Thompson's Super Test is great fun! No, this isn't a throwaway selection of games that didn't get into the original Decathlon. It's a neat new game in its own right - despite the sports overkill. I'll pick a couple of the newer events to talk about here - after all you've probably already had a go at cycling, rowing, shooting etc. Ski jump is great fun. You have to build up speed on the downward slope and time your jump and landing just right. Difficult at first but soon mastered. You'll enjoy going for that mega-jump! The screen display shows a close up view of your skier as he hurtles down the slope and through the air, while on the right hand side of the screen you see a plan view of the jump and an expanded side view in little windows. There's a power meter at bottom of the screen view in little windows. Penalty kicking is also a fun event. And the goalkeeper certainly isn't slow on his feet. You get an overhead view of the goal and goalie plus a readout of the angle of your kick. The Tug o'War is another new event - you can pick a variety of opponents depending on the score you want to achieve. The tougher the opponent the more points you get for beating him. There's a high score feature and a really nice end screen. If you win, you see yourself standing on the rostrum and the crowd behind you shout thing like "Far Out" and "Great" words which appear in little bubbles. DT's Super Test is a fine sequel to Decathlon and will wreck many more joysticks!

Crash

Use of Computer 86%

Graphics 81%

Playability 72%

Getting Started 70%

Addictive Qualities 77%

Value For Money 79%

Overall 76%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Ocean Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: Machine code Author: P Owens and J Smith Daley Thompson's Supertest is the long awaited follow-up to last year's big summer hit Daley Thompson's Decathlon. DTS and DTD (sound like weed killers) really originate from the Konami arcade classic Track and Field which started the Olympic sports craze around Easter last year. There are eight events in DTS: four on one side of the cassette and four on the other. When you load in a side, the aim is to go through the quartet of events as many times as possible. To complete an event you have to beat the set qualifying time or score. If you qualify then you progress to the next event; if you don't then you lose one of the three lives you start the game with. Each time you complete a cycle of four events the qualifying times get harder. Control is very simple, using just two speed buttons and a fire button. The speed buttons have to be hit alternately as fast as possible - if you're using the joystick then swift left and right movements will do the trick. The fire button is used to do a number of things - fire a gun, jump and so on, depending on the event. Initially, the qualifying targets are fairly low, but as you go round and round, things get progressively more difficult and the challenge mounts up. Once you've lost your three lives (or become a superhero) you can always flip the tape over and load in the other four events... but the score you achieve on one set of games cannot be carried over onto the other. THE EVENTS Pistol Shooting You stand in front of a set of six 'flip-round' targets. With ten shots in your pistol you shoot the targets as they spin round. You control a cursor, manoeuvring it over the target and shooting the bullet with the fire button. You cannot compensate if you move too far horizontally or vertically which can be annoying, and if you don't get a shot off while the target is facing you, you still lose a bullet. Points are scored for accuracy. Cycling This is one of those simple pound-the-keyboard-into-the-floor events. As soon as you hear the starting gun just hammer away at the keyboard (or joystick) to get the fastest possible time. Springboard Diving Bounce your man on the diving board three times by using the fire button to gain height and then he'll automatically dive. Pound away at the keyboard to make your man do as many somersaults as possible. When he's near to the surface of the water stop somersaulting when his head is pointing down. If you get it right, he enters the water perfectly. A panel of four judges awards points for each dive… Slalom Here you have to build up velocity by pressing the speed buttons so you can zoom down the hill. Once you see the flag gates you gain control of the skier and you have to steer him between the flags. If you hit a flag or turn too sharply then you lose speed and missing a gate completely means disqualification. Rowing This is another simple event where you have to beat the qualifying time by pounding the speed buttons as fast as you can. Penalties Here you have to build up speed during the run-up to the ball using two keys, then you kick the ball at the goal by pressing the fire button at the appropriate moment. The way the ball travels depends on how fast you run up and how long you keep the your finger on the fire button. The longer you keep your finger on the button the more the ball will bend. Too little and the 'keeper will save it, too much and you'll put the ball the wrong side of the post. You get five shots and must score three goals to qualify. Ski Jump Another event where you have to build up speed at the beginning. Whizz your way down the slope and when you reach the end press the fire button to jump. Watch him fly gracefully through the air and then press the fire button to land him safely. Tug O' War To complete this event you just have to build up massive energy with the speed buttons so you can out-pull your opponent. COMMENTS Control keys: definable Joystick: Kempston, Cursor and Interface 2 Keyboard play: reasonable Use of colour: fair, plenty of attribute problems Graphics: varied, but mostly big, undetailed and not very well animated Sound: nice jingles and spot effects Skill levels: increases as you progress Screens: eight events

Your SpectrumYour Spectrum Dougie's Rave Of The Month

Overall 9/10

Dougie Bern 9/10

JOYSTICK JURY Are you ready for a software siege? It's time for our trusty panel of joystick jurors to line up all the latest and greatest games and put them through their paces! Let Ross Holman, Rick Robson and Dougie Bern lead you to the hottest arcade action around! DALEY THOMPSON'S SUPERTEST Ocean £6.95 Dougie: you'll be really knackered when you get to grips with D.T.'s Supertest, it;s a real test of skill and endurance not to mention the dadamge it does to your digits! First off, comes the pistol shooting, where you'll need a quick eye and a fast hand to score enough points to qualify. Next up is the Cycle Racing, where you compete against the clock. Actually, it's more of a test to see what gives in first, you, your fingers, or your poor ol' speccy! When you've fully recovered from the cycling, you get the chance to go for a nice relaxing dip in the pool. Ha-ha, that'll be the day - you didn't think you'd get in there for nothing did you? No, you have to turn somersaults and dive into the water without the slightest ripple. You'd better dig out your thermal underwear for the next even as it gets pretty chilly on the Giant Slalom. Although you get 2 chances you'll probably spend more time on your backside than you will winging your way down the slopes! Say 2 sees you starting four new events. The rowing is another finger numbing exercise in stamina, and you'll have to beat the clock to qualify. You're also up against a computer opponent who's hard to beat. Beat the Goalie, next. Well, you don't actually get to beat the goalie, you have to beat him at penalties. You can build up the power of your shot on the run up and at the last minute kick the ball at an angle to fool the goalie. (Tee-hee!) Now you're for the high jump. Well, actually the Ski Jump, but they want you to jump high anyway! To get the best flight, build up your speed on the ramp, then just before the end, press the fire button to jump off into the clear blue yonder. If you've any stamina left after all that, it's time yo put your bulging biceps to the test in the tug-of-war. Once again your fingers bear the brunt of the bashing as you struggle to pull your way to victory. It's all pretty exhilerating stuff.

Each event has its own 'qualify' mark. You don't necessarily need to achieve this point to get into the next event, but if you do, it does mean you'll go with your full line up of athletes. You can move out and up, but you can't move back in to hit your target, that means you've got to be accurate first time! There ain't no second chances in this event. One advantage this has over Hypersports is the fact you start off with three men. This means that if you fail one event, you can always get into the next event providing you have a man left. You've only got two directional controls, so how does Daley work that one out? Well, it ain't too easy - the left button is used for moving left and right while the right-hand it used to move you up. It takes a lot of getting used to!

To do well in the Ski Jump, build up plenty of speed before launching yourself off into the cold air to gain the maximum jump possible. You'll need to go like fury on power buttons, and then take off as close to the edge as you dare. Down here, at the bottom of most screens, you'll find this little power meter. This tells you just exactly how much effort you're putting into each event, which is quite important since this is directly related to the score you're going to get at the end. Take care when landing - if you press the button too early you'll take a tumble in the snow. Too low and you'll break those expensive skis on hire from Ocean. These views show you the plan and side views of your jump. Use the top one to judge when you've got to prepare your landing, and the bottom one to estimate how far you are flying. Whoopee!

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Your Computer

Overall 3/5

Paul Bond 3/5

ZX Spectrum Sport simulation Ocean £9.95 When Daley Thompson was momentarily dethroned as the world's top decathlete he is rumoured to have said " I lost my world record and took it like a man - I only cried for 10 hours." Whether or not Ocean's follow-up to the enormously successful Daley Thompson's Decathlon will bring tears to your eyes, it will wreak havoc on your joystick and/or keyboard. Yes, it's another joystick waggler. The program features eight events only - and suffers strong competition from other sports simulations like US Gold's Summer and Winter Games, not to mention Activision's old Decathlon and the Tour de France. But it has just as much potential appeal as its predecessor. Spread over two days and two sides of a cassette, the events include pistol shooting, cycling, springboard diving, rowing, tug o' war, taking football penalties and two skiing events: the ski-jump and the giant slalom. No time for the blade on the feather lark with the rowing section. Start pumping away to build up your speed shown at the bottom left of the screen. The display shows an overhead view of two kayaks zipping down the river. World records, i.e. hi-scores, are shown at the top right of the screen to encourage the spirit of competitive joystick destruction. You stagger from your kayak to the football field - the display shows an overhead view of your footballer as he runs up to slam the leather into the back of the reticule. Your player runs as you either use the alternate left/right keys or pound away at the joystick to build up power for the shot. You control the ball's direction by timing the kick - the angle (or elevation) is controlled by the amount of time that the fire button is depressed. You get five shots. You won't find many footballers ski-jumping, you may reflect as the pistol signals the gate to open. However, many of them are used to being on the slippery slope or for the high jump. Again continuous left/right movement builds up your momentum, but you must hit the joystick fire button at the right moment as you come to the lip of the jump. The tug o' war is impossible. You have a choice of 10 opponents, the weakest of which is totally invincible.

Daley Thompson's Super-Test - brings tears to your eyes.