If there's one thing the Speccy has, it's sport games. And lots of them. Why? Because they're relatively easy to make, and the kiddies love 'em. But alas, most of them are to say the least, well... not very good. Oh, okay, they're crap. They're usually filled with colour clash, and are so tedious, you'd swear it had crashed. The dear little machine just couldn't cope with the necessary calculations to knock up a decent sim. So, imagine my surprise when I loaded this up!

Basketball games are usually played by about 10 guys (I'm not a fan of the sport, so forgive me if that figure's wrong) prancing around a court attempting to lob a rubber ball into a basket, hence the name "Basket-ball". The Speccy version is played with only two people - you, the computer, or another friend. This is of course, the first advantage - you're not looking up and down to see who you can pass the ball to. The second, and the best omission from the usual tediousity of these types of games is the lack of an aiming system. Pressing fire one makes you jump up, pressing fire again makes you throw the ball. As soon as you throw the ball, it'll automatically go towards your basket no matter how far up the court you are. Whether it goes in depends on how high you jumped. It's a bit hard to actually write down in words how it works, but that's close enough.

The game itself is immensely fun to play, from the moment the ball drops into the court, you're running around in every direction, trying to stop the computer from whupping yo' sorry ass. As soon as you master the art of running, and when is the best time to shoot, you'll soon start scoring some major points. It's also possible to score "three pointers" from right over the other side of the court. As long as you work out when to leave go of the ball! Just like real basketball, it's possible to commit fouls, so be careful how close you get to your opponent. Score 5 fouls, and out you go.

I played this game for the first time in ten years just the other day, and within seconds, the old touch came flooding back. As the stats above show, lots of baskets, lots of three pointers, and um, five fouls. So I lost that one. The second game started off with 5 points scored in 14 seconds. That's probably a record. Or maybe not. The game ended in a draw. Well, not quite, I got knocked out again, thanks to my dirty playing. Tch. These computers, won't let you have any fun. The graphics are well animated and cartoony. Notice how the two characters look likeSeb Coe and Jimmy Hill, only more transparent. The audience cheers whenever someone scores a basket. Also there's a slow-motion replay if someone scores a slam-dunk. Handy if you want to rub it in someone's face. Yes, this game is good. Very good, in fact. Even after all of these years, it hasn't aged, and is still as fun to play.

Jamie Percival