ALLIGATA'S fighter, Knockout, shouldn't even be in the same ring as Frank Bruno's Boxing and Rocco.

It is the only game in which the two players fight in profile and in colour; possibly to give a better view of what each is doing to the other. If that is so, it fails miserably.

You play the overweight Italian Stallion versus Slugger Sam. Standing motionless in the middle of the ring, they try for knock out. Your strength decreases every time you are hit and after a few taps the Italian Stallion sits down while four stars flash above his head. Even a KO isn't realistic.

Knock down Sluggish Sam three times and you can load up the Bald Bull. If the punishment is too severe you can at least stroll away but you cannot dodge or duck. To make matters worse, Italian Stallion seems to be one handed. His left arm hardly twitches - not much help.

With the joystick there is another disadvantage. It is easy to throw a head punch but body punches are more difficult. The scoring system seems unnecessarily complex - a simpler system would be more in keeping with the limitations of the game.

If Knockout had been released a few months ago it might have done well; as it is it will scarcely go one round with its muscular opposition. Described on the cassette inlay as 'the fight of the century', it might be better termed 'the worst fight of the century'.

THIS is a hybrid game combining features from Sabre Wulf and the more recent Nodes of Yesod.

Mushrooms are a prominent feature and crop up all over the place - magic mushrooms, deadly mushrooms and energy mushrooms. In fact, those fungi are most important when it comes down to finding six canisters of a deadly chemical from the depths of a jungle maze.

You have only one hour in which to complete your mission and retrieve the chemicals - no easy task as there are a variety of mutants, gnashing teeth and star fish out to kill.

Various indescribable objects will help or hinder your task. The cassette inlay suggests shooting anything which moves.

Much of the maze involves descending and ascending tunnels - here you are at your most vulnerable, falling between two narrow walls with little room to shoot the mutants. It is frustrating that you can only fire forwards and at varying angles but not up and down or behind you. That does make the game harder.

On the Run will take longer than an hour to complete at first and at the same time it is fun though unoriginal.

You have probably seen and played it all before, but if you like this type of challenge and want another variation on an Ultimate theme, then buy it.

SEND a robot seeker into an underground maze, find a computer console, blow it up and you've saved the planet.

The theme of Mastertronic's Nonterraqueous is all too familiar and bears some resemblance to all other maze games of the same ilk.

Once you've got your magnifying glass out to read the instructions, you will see that the game is all about keeping your psyche levels up. Some objects will give you psyche, others decay psyche - when you have no psyche left, you are dead.

Start off point seems to be around level 40. The robot, a little metal blob, whisks into the air and the search is on. Blast away at a few flying aliens and find a bomb.

When detonated, that blasts a hole through one of the electric fences which bar your passage. Photon thrusters block many paths and are fatal if touched. They also tend to come in twos and are the most frustrating aspect of the whole game.

Some objects carry the word Swop, which means you can go into defenceless mode. The robot turns into a helicopter which cannot fire and though that apparently has its uses, it is not needed in the early stages.

For all that, Nonterraqueous is fast with smooth graphics. Though not the most exciting game around, it is good value and should take some time to complete.

MUCH OF MY misspent youth was devoted to playing Monopoly. It was never long before the board was awash with beer and property cards littered the floor. When the banker got bottled we all went to bed.

Leisure Genius, in its official version, has done its best to depict board, dice and deed cards. Up to six people can play, or the computer can control as many players as you wish.

The top two-thirds of the screen depict the board in 3D perspective over which the crudely drawn pieces move, often resulting in frightening colour clashes. Names are absent too, so you have to know the board by heart.

Much better is the scrolling bird's eye view which takes place below. As the pieces move the relevant squares march from left to right.

As you can't see what cards you or the other players hold, you have to call up the property menu to remind yourself that you really were foolish enough to buy the Electric Co.

The same applies for finding how little money you have left.

Trading is a farce. You must pinpoint the property you want to exchange, and the one you wish to gain, using a cursor which moves across the board. Again, as the squares are not named, you must remember exactly where your properties are, otherwise you will attempt to trade a property you might not even hold.

Trading between two computer controlled players is virtually never successful, as the computer will offer ludicrously small cash incentives - £141 for Mayfair, in one instance.

Buying houses and hotels is disappointing. As they do not appear on the board, you can't gloat over your row of terraced slum dwellings crowded on the Old Kent Road.

Just about the only reason for playing computer Monopoly is if you are a lonely addict adrift amongst inveterate Trivial Pursuiters. Beating the Spectrum offers little solace, however. And it's very boring.

ACCEPT the challenge. Dive into the bowels of a Spectrum and enter a purple world strongly reminiscent of Ultimate's Alien 8. In fact, game play is just the same too.

The Ostans need a new leader and to show your cunning, wit and logic, you are dumped into a computer to prove yourself. Twenty-four objects, including books and microdrives, must be collected and deposited at the I/O unit - the starting point.

Many objects are hidden behind walls and approach from different angles is necessary to collect them. Only five objects can be carried at a time resulting in many trips back to the start.

A map is essential if you are to conserve fuel which quickly runs dry. Fuel containers are scattered in the early stages of the game - cunningly hidden amongst the debris. In later stages you will have to find the RFL - master refuel unit - which can be carried around and used when necessary.

Pick up all silicon chips. They neutralise the forcefields which block many paths through the maze. The fields are also numbered which helps with the map-making.

Further aid comes in the shape of a teleport network, which when accessed, will jump you to different sections. The only difficulty lies in finding the key to it. Return to base RTB - takes you straight back to the I/O unit. However, if you carry the RTB and RFL, you will only be able to pick up three other objects.

The graphics, though well defined, are not as highly polished nor as detailed as those in Ultimate's masterpiece. You control a walking turtle shell - a many faceted blob - which is difficult to recognise when first playing the game.

Firebird says Cylu was a borderline case for its Gold range and if the similarities to Alien 8 were not so apparent it would have made it. However, it is an excellent copy, enjoyable and great value, and probably the best and most playable game in the Silver range.

DESPITE being a Toad of Toad Hall lookalike, Phineas Frogg is a great deal more likeable. As the great detective he has to solve the mystery of scientist Mole's whereabouts in SLOTH - the Secret Lair of the Terrible Hamsters.

Adventure games have great appeal, but younger members of the family may not be able to spell well enough and tend to get stuck.

You have to guide Phineas around SLOTH, choosing from a selection of moves. That means that the keyboard input is limited to numbers. The adventure can only be solved if the arcade sections are played.

Phineas needs a disguise and has to go fishing to get his fishmonger outfit. Fishing involves playing a Frogger type game. To get his scientist's white coat he has to solve the mystery of the cellars.

To help there is a story book, and a Top Secret envelope with a map and more clues.

The adventure is text with graphics and great fun to play,, one of the very few games which have held the attention of the child testers for a number of sessions. We still have not solved the mystery, but have decided Mole is hidden down the mysterious locked corridor. The final mystery must be whether our boss Badger is really involved with the hamsters, and is a double agent.

WHEN A budget software house gets into bed with a snack food manufacturer the consequences are likely to be pretty vile.

Mastertronic and KP have teamed up to promote a stunningly boring little number featuring Clumsy Colin, star of KP Skips packets.

The mindless storyline has somnambulist biker Colin scouring the town for his lost mate Marti. There are 150 houses; some he can't enter, some he can. Some have useful items, others don't.

The streets are liberally sprinkled with oil slicks and packets of KP Skips - the latter to be eaten, not avoided. Off the map is a dark region which Colin can only enter with a headlamp.

Why Colin is asleep is a mystery. The programmer was, too, by the looks of things. Too many collisions and Colin wakes up. You might wake up, too, and wonder why you're playing this jerky, flickery mess.

Following hot on the heels of Elite's dreadful Dunlop promotion, 911TS, Action Biker signifies a depressing trend to link grotty software with expensive advertising campaigns. Let's kill this off instantly by refusing to buy such garbage.

Software like this gives junk food a bad name.

MIRRORSOFT produced a number of games which help with basic skills, but if you have not already bought one of those then Ancient Quests is a must.

King Tut's Treasure is a game concerning matching shapes, matching fractions with names and decimals. This bald statement makes it sound like one big yawn, but the game is so cleverly designed as to overcome that problem, inherent in many educational games.

As Professor Diggins you have to search for the treasure over several screens. Having only a metal detector you must depend on the screen indicators as to the position of the treasure. When you are very 'hot' you can dig, and may find the matching shape or name. However there are hazards to avoid and played at the top speed the game can be very exciting.

In The Count you are in a castle and have to answer a number of questions on counting, or a choice of any mathematical operation. When that is done you go to the library, answer some more questions and, if correct, sunlight will pour in.

Both games are smooth in operation and have good graphics, and a choice of keyboard or joystick control. As a variety of skill levels is offered it will appeal to the 5-10 age group. It represents good value and the mixture of arcade action with content is just about right.

YOU HAVE the body of a bird but the brain of a human.

Well, none of us are perfect, and in Metabolis your feathered wimpness can nevertheless bring about the downfall of the evil macho Kremins by destroying their nuclear reactor.

Metabolis is a maze adventure with the usual dose of objects to collect and mutants to avoid. You control the Tweetypie character- a far cry from the fearsome fowl depicted on the cassette cover - in its quest to locate the four pieces of nuclear fuel necessary to blow up the reactor. Before you succeed in that, however, you must find the reversal serum which will transform you into a man.

Apples, fish, cake and other edibles must be consumed to prolong your life, and pills must be popped to prevent heart attacks. Other objects provide temporary defence against the maze's booby traps - picking up a 15 symbol, for instance, gets you past the boxing gloves, which otherwise send you hurtling backwards.

The slapstick cartoon humour is also evident when you get stomped on by the ton weights and hop around suffering from graphics compression.

The maze is large - 150 screens and requires methodical mapping. Movement is fast and the Kremins plentiful. You can't zap them until you've chanced upon the magic boomerang, randomly hidden. Somewhere lurks a wizard, but I've yet to catch sight of him. And I still can't work out what the syringes are for.

Sufficiently addictive and tortuous, Metabolis isn't exactly going to set the software industry afire but it is considerably better than many others on the. market. Good for a rainy summer's day.

ONE OF THE most uninspiring games ever has just been released by US Gold.

Buck Rogers - who is he, anyway? - has been licensed from Sega and part of the game adapted for the computer. No doubt US Gold has tried to be faithful to the arcade version, but surely the graphics could be more detailed. After all, the original is a couple of years old with graphics of the Space Invaders era.

You start by skimming forward across the surface of Planet Zoom. In the first tedious screen electrified portals appear. Just fly through 11 of those and onto section two.

Next fly through the posts and kill off numerous alien saucers and space hoppers. There are five sections in each level, increasing in difficulty. Finally you reach space where assorted aliens and the mother ship must be blasted. At level two, the whole sequence starts again.

Planet Zoom consists of lines of colours receding to the horizon. Those with mono sets may count themselves lucky. In colour a revolting pink and crimson form the lines and in level two, a brilliant blue and red. No doubt level three is as horrible.

In short, there are better things to spend your money on.