Producer: Silversoft, 16K
£5.95
Author: S Godwin

Slippery Sid is a large snake in a garden whose task in life is to eat frogs. Every time he does so a poisonous toad appears which he can't eat until having consumed a magic mushroom. Death occurs instantly if he touches the brick walls or himself. Silversoft have given enough elements to this fast game to make it quite addictive. The keyboard positions, however, are a bit daft, but you can use a Kempston joystick. Five skill levels with an extra life for getting to the fourth garden. Sound could have been better. Otherwise good value for money.

Producer: Silversoft, 16K
£5.95
Author: S Godwin

Slippery Sid is a large snake in a garden whose task in life is to eat frogs. Every time he does so a poisonous toad appears which he can't eat until having consumed a magic mushroom. Death occurs instantly if he touches the brick walls or himself. Silversoft have given enough elements to this fast game to make it quite addictive. The keyboard positions, however, are a bit daft, but you can use a Kempston joystick. Five skill levels with an extra life for getting to the fourth garden. Sound could have been better. Otherwise good value for money.

Producer: Silversoft, 16K
£5.95
Author: S Godwin

Slippery Sid is a large snake in a garden whose task in life is to eat frogs. Every time he does so a poisonous toad appears which he can't eat until having consumed a magic mushroom. Death occurs instantly if he touches the brick walls or himself. Silversoft have given enough elements to this fast game to make it quite addictive. The keyboard positions, however, are a bit daft, but you can use a Kempston joystick. Five skill levels with an extra life for getting to the fourth garden. Sound could have been better. Otherwise good value for money.

The majority of programs available for the 16K Spectrum come in attractive packages and Slippery Sid is no exception. However, often an attractive cover can conceal a poor or even bug-ridden program. Fortunately, this program lives up to all expectations. Basically simple in concept, the game is incredibly addictive.

On running you are seen to be in a walled garden in which a number of frogs are sitting. You take the role of Slippery Sid the snake and your aim is to gobble up all the frogs. But beware! Every time you eat a frog, a white toad will appear at random in the garden. Also, the more frogs you eat, the longer you grow and the harder it becomes to get around the screen. Occasionally a magic mushroom will appear and on eating this you can gobble up a toad and gain extra points. On eating all the frogs, the screen clears and you find yourself in the next garden which contains an extra wall. The game continues as before with more walls and hazards added each time you clear a screen. The control keys are well chosen and a high score can be achieved quite quickly. The battle is not over yet though as you have the choice of five levels of speed - from manageable to well-nigh impossible!

All in all, Slippery Sid is a very enjoyable game with good use of sound and graphics. I highly recommend it but would warn those of you who are married that it can cause marital stress. I am still trying to pry my wife away from the keyboard so that I can have another go. Slippery Sid is available from most good software stockists at £5.95.

ANIMALS AND VEGETABLES

Muncher, Slippery Sid and the Cyber Rats are all arcade creatures from three new games for the 16K Spectrum. The games are from Silversoft, no stranger to the Sinclair arcade scene.

Cyber Rats is the most impressive of the three. The game is a little like Centipede but instead of one long worm there are dozens of metal rats moving down the screen towards your laser base. The hopping spiders of the centipede game are replaced by deadly purple rats which appear from nowhere.

The second is Slippery Sid. You must drive your snake around the screen, eating the mushrooms as you go bu not hitting the stones. You must also beware of poisonous toadstools which cannot be eaten unless you have first devoured a mushroom.

When you have cleared one screenful another screenful appears with more obstacles between Sid and the mushrooms.

The final new release is Muncher, which is almost a standard Pacman game. There are a few subtle differences between it and the traditional game. The Pacman is a skull and the ghosts are slimmer than normal. The centre of the maze is no longer the home of the ghosts - it houses a prize cherry. During the game two doors will slide open, giving Muncher access to the prize.

All three games are excellent but there are a few errors in the documentation accompanying them. In Cyber Rats the location of the fire button, the space key, is not disclosed and in Muncher the down key should be 'N' and not 'M'.

Each of the games costs £5.95 and they are available from Silversoft, London House, 271-273 King Street, London W6.