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A NAKED ATTEMPT to cash in on the popularity of Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Brian Jack's Superstar Challenge pits your joystick-powered body against he-man Brian Jacks in eight events drawn from the TV sports series in which athletes compete at a range of sports.

Each side of the tape contains four events. Those divide into two types. There are the ones like canoeing or cycling where you have to pump the joystick left and right as hard as you can, and there are others like archery or squat thrusts where skill at judging when to fire or change direction is paramount.

The animation is poor and only occupies a small part of the screen. The races are particularly disappointing as the competitors barely move at all and stay in the centre of the screen.

The football event where you must dribble round four cones and then shoot at a goalkeeper we found unplayable and totally unrealistic. The other events bear some relation to their originals, but squat thrusts and arm dips are not the most exciting of activities to watch or perform, in the sweaty flesh or on screen.

It is fairly easy to beat Brian on the early levels of the game, and doubtful whether many would wish to continue to higher levels to receive their thrashing. You'll have more fun drinking glucose and pumping iron all day.


Publisher Martech Price £7.95
Memory 48K Joystick Sinclair, Kempston
**

Chris Bourne

BRIAN JACKS SUPERSTAR CHALLENGE
Martech / £7.95

Roger: Real live physical exercise always seemed silly to me but simulating it on the Spectrum is even sillier. Prejudices apart, I can only imagine that such a combination of TV personality name-dropping and this collection of visually naff sporting fixtures is supposed to scoop up any leftovers from 'Decathlon' and its ilk.
Running, cycling, archery, footie, swimming and the dubious delights of squat thrusting (pardon? Ed.) are included, demanding a great deal of mindless and finger-cramping button or key repeat to get our boy elbowing Brian from the podium.
Keyboard users had better be still in the protective shadow of Sir Clive's warranty because they're likely to need it. Sinclair has heard of circuit and membrane faults but sporting injuries are worth a try. Quite honestly, if you want to keep fit in an armchair there are better ways than this athletic tosh. 0/5

Ross: If you're not soon bored by bashing the keys or jerking the joystick, you'll tire of having to keep turning the tape to load each event. 2/5

Dave: My joystick ran for cover when I showed it this - it needn't have worried, I only played it a couple of times before I got bored.
It says on the inlay card that Brian himself reckoned 'It had better be good'. I wonder if anyone's got the bottle to show it to him yet. 1/5