OF ALL the daydreams which never see reality, Grand Prix racing must be a favourite. There are plenty of programs for budding drivers, but few which capture the atmosphere of the season rather than the skill of driving. Formula One from CRL redresses the balance with a fine simulation of the sport from the team manager's point of view.

You are asked to choose a team and a sponsor, and set a level of difficulty for the game. You then get to spend the loot - Formula One cars cost vast sums of money to design, and even a million will not go far. Money can be concentrated on engine design, hiring better drivers, better crews, or chassis design. If your cars are raceworthy then it's on to the grid for the first race of a 16 race season.

As in the granddaddy of sports simulations, Football Manager, Formula One shows you the highlights of the race. Unlike Grand Prix Manager, Silicon Joy's follow-up to their football game, Formula One does it very well indeed. Cars whizz past in the right order, and if you are quick you can spot the numbers - just like the real thing. A leader board constantly updates the times and positions of the first six cars, and messages at the bottom of the screen inform you of shunts, punctures, and other setbacks to individual drivers.

Pitstops are handled beautifully. You can either request them or be compelled to make them. A short arcade sequence involves sending a mechanic flying round the car changing the wheels as fast as he can. The better the crew the quicker he moves, but you can lose precious seconds if you fail to line him up correctly.

You also have a choice of five different types of tyre and, as in the sport, you can win or lose races on the wrong choice. Weather is the factor here, and you get reports on that both before and during the race. At the end of each Grand Prix the tables are displayed for the Drivers' and Constructors' championship. Your aim is to be top of both.

As a simple game against the computer, Formula One would be great fun, but in fact up to six players can take part. Once you get used to the pit stop procedure, it should not be too difficult to pass the joystick around swiftly enough to avoid argument; the other operations are performed without time limit. That opens up the game to a much richer form of entertainment.

Easy enough at novice level, very tough at expert level, Formula One is a rare example of a simulation which combines attractive displays, good game structure and an exciting theme. Please Mr Editor, just one more go?

FOR MANY moons now Quicksilva has been advertising a chilling program entitled Blood and Guts - 'A fantastic fight to the death within your own bloodstream!' The more squeamish amongst you might be relieved that the game has now been renamed Fantastic Voyage, after the sixties hokum pic in which Raquel Welch was injected into the body of a brain-damaged scientist - he should be so lucky.

Together with your specially designed submarine you are miniaturised and implanted in the body of the boffin. Unfortunately the sub does not withstand the process and its component parts are liberally distributed throughout the anatomy.

Starting your voyage in the scientist's mouth, you have only 60 minutes in which to locate each segment of the disjointed craft and swim with it up into the brain, where it is deposited upon a mysteriously convenient ledge before final re-assembly and escape. Quicksilva is coy as to the escape route - but if the game follows the film you'll return to the outside world inside a poetic tear drop.

The ludicrous plot nevertheless makes for a tricky, entertaining and dare one say it - educational game. Leaving the mouth with your first piece of sub, you swim down the throat, avoiding the wobbly, lethal, epiglottis (?) and into the bronchi. Turn into the right lung, being careful not to touch the pulsating sides, through the valve to the pulmonary vein, zapping the wall of yellow cholesterol, then, in quick succession, the left atrium, left ventricle, the aorta and up into the brain. Drop the part and go in search of the next piece.

Actually it's not that simple. Just when you think you're doing well, the screen flashes with the news that an infection has broken out in some distant organ, and you have to rush to the scene of the disturbance and destroy the wiggly things darting about.

Your energy is draining all the time, and to replenish it you need to feast on any passing red cells. Without the bloody cells you fast become invisible, and play is then nigh impossible. White blood cells are useful for removing any growths you encounter.

Graphics are adequate and mercifully abstract, otherwise you might be barfing all over your keyboard. All in all, an addictive and original entertainment. In these days of clone software, what more could you ask for?

A STRATEGY wargame which takes less time to finish than a war itself? With truly simultaneous movement on both sides? And no complicated rulebook?

Well, it seems to have finally happened. Lothlorien has produced Overlords, a two-player game combining frenzied arcade action - with deep strategy.

Loosely based on the classic board game Campaign, Overlords takes place across 12 screens of map. You have three types of piece - footsoldiers, generals, and the Overlord. You can choose different options for play - a short game, long game or all-out bloodbath.

The mechanics of the game have an original simplicity. Each player simultaneously moves a cursor around the screen to 'pick up' pieces and move them. The front lines become a mass of moving pieces as players jockey for position. The computer picks the screen for play at random, and sets a time limit on manoeuvres. The turn is punctuated by brief but vicious bursts of fire as units are destroyed.

Usually combat is decided by a straightforward count of the pieces bearing on a square, but generals have superior power and can be used to startling effect. A short game should take about half an hour. A duel to the death could last longer.

The graphics are less original, being firmly based on the UDG format with coloured tokens representing trees, buildings, castles and rivers. Whereas some wargames involve complicated movement rules for different terrain, Overlords simply makes such squares impassable. That means to get a piece through a forest you have to dodge the trees, thus appreciably slowing down movement.

Speed of action is remarkable, given two independent cursors on screen. But Lothlorien has gone further than that in providing a variety of facilities. You can save the game to microdrive, use joystick/keyboard combinations, and even play the game across a network of two Spectrums. Would that more companies were so thoughtful.

COLLINS Soft was first off the mark about two years ago with a series of educational programs based on Paddington.

Those early programs were fairly unremarkable and rather dull. With Paddington's Garden Game Collins Soft has started afresh and produced a program which is likely to be a hit with children between five and eight.

Paddington has to walk round his garden, catch butterflies and find marmalade sandwiches. He also has to avoid hedgehogs and wasps and not touch the flowers or borders.

All the ingredients of arcade action are included, several screens of action, three lives and a task, and the graphics are smooth. However the butterflies are released at the end of the game and Paddington merely gets stung.

The joystick option means that the program is easy to operate and should satisfy the desire of younger members of the family to play computer games. In doing so it reinforces hand/eye co-ordination and most of all is entertaining and fun.

GOOD shoot 'em up games are difficult to find these days, mainly because most companies have booted their aliens into orbit.

Incentive, however, has only just made it back from the Mountains of Ket, and do not know about such things. The company has just brought out a passable version of Moon Cresta.

The game is a clone of the original arcade machine hit from Nichibutsu.

The pace and plot can be described in a few sentences, consisting mainly of two-syllable words. Take your three-stage rocket into space. Blast as many types of alien as you can. Once a phase is over, grab a bonus by docking one section of your ship with another.

For those who still do not know Moon Cresta, after that brief description, it is a space invaders game where the invaders are fast but dumb. They do not fire back when you loose your laser bolts on them.

Once the first stage of your ship has been destroyed the second allows you the use of two blasters instead of one. They are both needed as there is no auto-repeat and firing at aliens is a real chore, except for those who are insensitive to pain. The same is true of the joystick fire button - and we thought joysticks made it easier.

The incentive of a video cassette recorder as a prize, if you are the first person to top the 30,000 point barrier, may enamour you to the game. If you are an arcade addict - your furtive fingers will waltz to the prize. As a beginner you may also throw caution and your keyboard to the wind.

If, however, you already own a video recorder, or fear for the health of your joystick then give the aliens a rest and go out and kill a few Hobbits for a change.

THE LIGHTNING powers of the black arts crackle brightly through the astral atmosphere, hurling toward their intended victim in Chaos.

In this new fantasy game you take on the mantle of a wizard and pit your wits against up to eight others which can either be controlled by human players or the computer.

Cast your spells of attack or protection and destroy the other mages to become a master of magic. Magic is death to all but the strongest, on the Chaos plane of Limbo.

Once you have chosen the number of wizards with which you want to do battle you can select their stance and colour. Be careful to choose one which is facing in the correct direction. Nothing dents a wizard's ego more than having to throw spells backward.

There are 50 spells within Chaos and you will have only a random selection of 10, some of which could be duplicates. Spells include fighting figures such as unicorns, elves and golden dragons. You can also conjure fires, castles and magic forests.

All spells are either Lawful, Chaotic or Neutral. When chaotic spells are cast players will find it more difficult to cast Lawful or Neutral spells.

The state of the magical universe is also classed as Lawful, Chaotic or Neutral. A Chaotic universe is one in which there is no order. A Lawful universe is one in which evil is punished and structure can be seen in everything.

Each spell has a chance of success. The manual gives some examples of conjurations with their success factors shown as a percentage of chance. A Giant Rat spell will be 100 percent effective but your wizardly powers will only give you a ten percent chance of conjuring a Golden Dragon.

The movement of spell creatures and your wizard character is ordered under cursor control. The number of spaces which they can be moved depends upon the spells which you have created. Wizards on foot may only move one space but if they are mounted on a spell creature they can move a maximum of six spaces.

Chaos is a fast moving and colourful game. The animation is good enough for a strategy game but the character-square graphics are simple and functional.

The game is sufficiently complex to appeal to dungeons and dragons fans and to strategy game players. So, if you've ever fancied the role of a wizard, give it a go.

MR T is back again in this Good Housekeeping package aimed at 4-7 year olds. There are two games on the tape, both concentrating on 'look closely!' problems.

Rainy afternoons with the youngsters could be filled with the task of beating Mr T at matching pairs. There are 12 cards which are turned over in turn, either by two children, or one child playing the computer.

There is plenty of button pushing to be done which should satisfy even the most eager of fingers. The game operates on four levels with either animals or mosaic shapes.

Switcheroo, the second game, requires a little bit of planning. At the easiest level you have to change one animal to another choosing an intermediate stage, either colour, size or animal with or without a bow tie. There are three intermediate stages to be chosen at the most difficult level.

The problem with such games is that they are so structured that they allow a child little feeling of control. Mr T could be a friendly playmate, or he could become a tyrant.

ONLY professional skiers need apply to race in Richard Shepherd's Ski Star 2000 - the slalom is more like suicide than fun on the slopes.

You are given 18 options for the type of game you want to race, there are a number of courses to choose from and you can also design your own course.

If you are a coward you will go for full visibility, a gentle, uncomplicated course and no snow fall. Even with the odds stacked in your favour you will probably end up on your head.

The screen is split into three sections, a large view of the course with flags marking the route and underneath, two small screens depicting your route and a display panel with a timer and speed gauge.

The game is played in exactly the same way as a flight simulation. As you bank to go round a flag the horizon tilts accordingly and straightens up as you go for the next flag in the zig-zag course. Those who have played a flight simulation will know how difficult it is to keep the plane steady and on a straight course. It is just as difficult in Ski Star 2000 and it is possible to turn 180 degrees and ski uphill to the start without knowing it!

The graphics are minimal with a few line drawings depicting a mountainous horizon and flags. It is a pity the game does not show the skier as that would make play more interesting. On harder races you will come across moguls scattered along the route acting as obstacles. However, the game is incredibly slow with jerky movement.

Options allow changes in speed, rate of turn, maximum roll and although those make the game marginally more interesting it is a poor substitute for the real thing.

LEAPING from the big screen to the small screen, Bruce Lee encourages you to practice the ancient art of Kung-Fu from the safety of an armchair.

You would think that immortality on screen would be enough, but no, Bruce wants infinite wealth as well no doubt to keep him going in the afterlife - from a wizard who dwells beneath a temple in the Himalayas.

In this exciting game from US Gold you have to pass through three screens on ground level to a secret entrance to the caverns below. To uncover the entrance all the lanterns in those screens must be collected. Lanterns play a key part throughout the game uncovering secret entrances.

It is no simple job penetrating the wizard's stronghold. All your skills as Kung-Fu expert are called to the fore in order to defeat the evil Green Yamo and deadly Ninja - the wizard's minions.

It is worth spending a few moments before play to practice kicking and punching - very simple with joystick control - as the Yamo and Ninja will soon knock you out. The Yamo is a fat, wobbly giant but is a keen fighter and has to be knocked down three times before he collapses. The Ninja - no less deadly - needs to be knocked out only twice.

Once underground there are many traps to catch the uninitiated - exploding t'sung lin bushes and pan lights streaming across the ground are two such hazards.

Tunnels and passages have to be negotiated - watch out for electrical fields which must be dodged. Lanterns must be collected, ladders climbed and you will have to make use of a moving column of particles which change direction at random - a bit like running up a down escalator.

The graphics are decorative and clearly defined with good use of colour. Bruce Lee, the Ninja and Green Yamo - who incidentally is white in the Spectrum version - could be more clearly defined but are quite recognisable, and the lack of detail in their make-up doesn't detract from the game.

The options at the start are many and varied - you can play against the computer or an opponent or two players against the computer.

There is little sound and more tasks could have been incorporated. However, there are a number of tricky obstacles to avoid and 20 chambers to get through. An enjoyable game and worth buying.

THE Piper/Piccolo Dinosaurs package includes the beautifully illustrated book and is aimed at nine year olds upwards. The book is well written with short sections full of interesting facts, ideally suited for this age group.

The four programs are designed to stimulate interest in the topic. Birth of Life is an evolution simulation where you have to build at least four cells with adequate food and oxygen before they can split and evolve.

When that task has been completed you receive the code word and can go on to the second game, Life on Land. In this game you have to answer five questions before you can play the game, which is disappointing graphically and jerky in its movements.

In Mission 1 you have to recognise dinosaur shapes, and in Mission 2 control a Pterosaur as it flies over the sea to catch fish.

The concept behind the package is good, but it is a shame that the games are not particularly exciting. One or two good games on the lines of Sinclair's Science Horizons would have been preferable to four mediocre ones.

BET YOU never knew that if you turn a jumbo jet upside down at 20,000 feet and then cut all the engines it makes a noise like a rat with indigestion when it hits the ground.

Just one of the many features of the latest flight simulator from DACC, a company which claims to specialise in the horrid things. Don't misunderstand. Many of my best friends sit in front of the telly for hours watching the green horizon and flickering instruments while the rest of the family waits and wonders if they'll crash before the beginning of Dynasty.

The real trouble with Jumbo jets is there isn't a lot of scope for aerobatics and the like. Ponderous is a fairly kindly word to describe the grace and agility of the Jumbo. No doubt that is why DACC's flight simulator, in its pursuit of accuracy, is so much more boring than the faithful Psion Flight Simulator or Digital Integration's excellent Fighter Pilot.

You get the normal array of obscure instruments, the usual bewilderingly boring manual, and a landing sequence which always seems to include two or three more operations than the brain can handle at a time. Drawbacks include the lack of a screen map with your position on it, and no landmarks on the ground apart from the runways, which are themselves simply parallel lines. You'll have more fun on a cold morning at Gatwick waiting for the fog to lift.