In typical modest fashion US Gold has named this latest all hit compilation World Beaters Giants, but, truth to tell, you can see its point. After all, there isn't a game here that any self respecting joystick basher won't know, if not love. But how does this package rate against the industry's best. After all, £19.99 is the cost of most full price 16 bit software, and enough to give most Spectrum owners early heart attacks.
    
CALIFORNIA GAMES
A bit weird this one: a series of sporting events like one of those Olympic challenge things, but in this case consisting of typical West Coast activities like frisbee throwing, surfing and keeping a bean bag in the air with your foot. Lots of keyboard thumping (guaranteed to trash your Spectrum) to get you going while you perform your cunning stunts, and I suppose there is a degree of Californian feel to the proceedings, but this one totally failed to set me alight. Chunky and colourful graphics but non-existent sound: only great fun when you've mates to play it with.
    
OUTRUN
The most talked-about game of last year promised much but failed to deliver on most home systems, the Speccy (lucky for us) being a bit of an exception. It's a multiload, which is a bit of a pain, and the action sometimes slows right down to parking speed, but some of the atmosphere of the arcade original is maintained, which is no mean achievement. Music's good too. We gave it an eight in March last year, which sounds a bit generous.
    
GAUNTLET 2
Wiiicked! The joker in the pack and no mistake, Gauntlet 2 just chews up everything else here and spits it out (? Ed) A stunning update of the original look-down-on-a-nasty-slimy-dungeon-and-move-your-bod-about-avoiding-slithery-nasties spectacular! There's even a character named Thor to play, named after one of our very own art persons. Lots of monsters/traps to avoid/kill (delete as appropriate) and Dungeons And Dragons-style fun for all the family. Worth at least nine (not the eight meanie Phil originally gave it).
    
ROLLING THUNDER
Never been a great fan of this famous platform shoot 'em up myself, but there's no denying it is fast and tricky. You play an undercover cop scrolling along looking for the big baddie himself and shooting his minions, the novelty coming from the fact that for most of the time there is a catwalk above you that you can jump on should the need arise. It got nine and a megagame award originally. But I'd say eight was more like it.
    
720°
Really rather nice. Simple but effective graphics as you skate around doing tricks to earn points and go on to greater things while all the time avoiding that perennial skater's nightmare, the killer bees. Sharp and clear, it's a lot of fun, so we'll give it a nine and a megagame (or at least we did in Jan '88).
    Not a bad collection, but one I find it very hard to get excited about. Probably of most use in that having it lets you join in with your friends. ("OutRun was crap on the Speccy," "No it wasn't," "Yes it was.")

YS Cross-references
		720 Degrees/US Gold	YS25	9
		720 Degrees/Kixx	YS43	92
		California Games/Epyx	YS27	7
		California Games/Kixx	YS60	69
		Gauntlet II/US Gold	YS26	8
		OutRun/US Gold	YS24	PRE
		OutRun/US Gold	YS27	8
		OutRun (in The YS Complete Guide To Driving Games)	YS59	61
		Rolling Thunder/US Gold	YS27	9
		Rolling Thunder (in The YS Complete Guide To Shoot-'em-ups Part II)	YS56	74