MAN'S WORST FEAR waits eagerly in the darkness. The scent of human blood is overwhelming and the taste of cool, moist, rubbery flesh is still remembered and savoured. The time is near for the invasion of The Rats.

The game, from Hodder and Stoughton which publishes the book of the same name, is an experience as well as being a menu-driven adventure with a touch of strategy. It loads in sections, the first being a demo program with a nice line in cellar graphics. The sound is not too hot, but the excellent and superbly fast animation sequence, in which a torch scans a watery cellar to reveal hundreds of the plague carriers, is one of the best I have seen.

Once the demo is over, or if you break out of it, the main game is loaded from random routines on the first side of the tape. Loading is confusing as the main operating system of the game chooses the sections to be included within the program at random. Therefore, some of the code on the tape does not load and, if you are a first time user, you may think that the tape is faulty. It is not an error, the tape is loading in the random encounters for the game.

Once the game is running you had better be prepared for some fast action. There are two levels of play, over which the computer has total control. The first level involves a number of scenarios which deal with minor characters. As in James Herbert's book, those people are expendable and can be sacrificed for information about the mutant rats.

Those scenarios are heralded by a warning siren. The screen then splits into three windows, the largest of which displays the action as text. The long window on the left provides command options and the one at the bottom of the screen is your command window. Making your character act is simple - just construct a command sentence at the bottom of the screen using the options provided. The effect creates a feeling of tension as you do not know what options are available until a specific menu is displayed.

If you are unlucky enough to meet a rat, it can kill you in a number of ways. First it might rip through the screen and bite you or, alternatively, it could try to rip through the text with its claws. Once an attack is made, a human face, full of terror, is shown falling from the rip in the page.

It is possible to escape your fate as one of the minor characters. For instance, the little girl doing her paper round would be better off if she did not go into the house across the road, but then you would not discover the rats' secrets.

The major characters, including Harris and Foskins, are just as vulnerable to attack as the minor characters. In some situations, Harris must be mercenary and let the rats kill friends in order to gain information about their habits. For example, when he goes to capture a rat he must make sure that his companion leads the way - the leader becomes a rat victim.

The other part of the game is a contest between the rats and Government forces. You are in charge and must allocate resources on a giant map which shows the spread of the rats through London. If they go over the boundaries you have lost the game, just as you have lost if one of the major characters is killed.

You use icon menus to allocate forces and resources. Those go into action on the part of the map which you have indicated with your cursor. At the same time you must specify the research into the rats' behaviour.

The Rats is a complex and brilliant game with above average graphics - if minimal sound. I can recommend it without reservation to those with strong stomachs.

PRETTY CLEVER aliens, the lot in Komplex - they've built a vast maze of a city to test our resources. Naturally you're unable to resist the challenge, so it's into the mazes of Komplex City for another bash at convincing the aliens of humanity's superiority.

Legend's series of shoot-'em-ups got off to a shaky start with Komplex, but the sequel more than redeems earlier disappointments. Komplex City is fast, long, and, as its name suggests, complicated.

The maze of tunnels has over 65,000 intersections, and there are several trillion possible mazes - you can change them by typing in a name for the maze at the beginning. Then, every time you use the same name you will get the same maze.

To help you there are a number of on-screen scanners and the like. The long and short range scans show how far away from the targets you are there are 11 to collect.

Another display shows what lies just ahead in the tunnels. At each intersection you can choose your direction, or whether to go into hyperdrive. You may also get an opportunity to increase your score, make a short jump or restore your shields - with the exception of jump, those involve maximising the size of bar graphs or the amount of green on the screen. It is what lies ahead in terms of shields, score bonuses or jumps that is shown on the display, and you will have to plan carefully to make, the best use of those options.

Hyperdrive is great fun. The screen suddenly bursts into colour and various mushroom-like baddies come at you. Some are animated, with ports opening and guns extending to blast you. Hyperdrive is costly on the shields, but vital for completion of the game in less than a month.

The tunnels themselves are done in wireframe graphics, with aliens coming at you at some speed. While there is little new about the graphics style it is extremely effective, and the flashes and various stuttering sounds indicating gunfire or damage are not so obtrusive as to hurt the eyes - a boon to reviewers at the end of a long week of zapping. You can switch off the sound or the flashes anyway.

One particularly good feature is the autopilot, which actually plays the game for you and can be cut in at any time. It's not a very skilled autopilot, and you will have little trouble in doing better yourself, but it does provide a good way of learning how the game is played.

Legend has clearly put a lot more care into Komplex City than into recent products, and that attention to detail has paid off. You probably won't want another shoot-'em-up this side of Christmas.

HERE COMES Ultimate once more with the continuing saga of Sabre Man.

Nightshade is, as you might have begun to suspect, more of the same the brilliant 3D graphics system of Knight Lore and Alien 8 juiced up and improved to simulate a mediaeval village. Somehow the programmers have managed to get colour into the screens.

In order to see your little hero in the narrow village lanes one or two walls drop out of the picture, remaining as white lines on the screen. That system does, however, allow for some, wonderfully detailed views of inns, barns and the like.

As usual with Ultimate there is little information on what you are supposed to do. The village is said to have been possessed by a great evil, which turned the inhabitants into werewolves and other hideous creatures. Those monsters are some of the best yet, coming in a tremendous variety of shapes.

Your weapons lie in the village rooms and you collect various missiles to stock up your ammunition. Some will not do you much good - there are monsters which transmute into others if hit, or split into two, and it's going to take you some time to establish which does what to whom.

Meanwhile, there are four hypernasties - a mad monk, a skeleton, a ghost, and Mr Grimreaper, death himself. They are scattered about the village, and must, we suppose, be sought out and destroyed, presumably with four special objects, the eggtimer, Bible, Hammer and Cross.

The game is well-paced - very much an arcade-style production compared to the logic puzzles of the two earlier Filmation games.

On the other hand, there is a sense of déjà vu creeping into Ultimate games. It's now well over a year since Sabre Man first appeared, and the concept is wearing a little thin.

Nightshade looks a lot different from Knight Lore and Alien 8, but not so different as to stifle doubts that Ultimate may be running out of steam. Or dare we hope for something really special this side of Christmas?

PREVIEW

Buried somewhere in a mythical land reminiscent of Tolkien's Middle Earth lies a book, which is the root of all evil. One horrific day, a young innocent stumbles across that weighty tome, and opens it - the evil spews forth to desecrate the land.

The main object in Shadow of the Unicorn is to retrieve that book from whoever holds it, seal it and hide it away. However, there are a number of sub-plots revolving around the 10 central characters which must be completed. For instance, the Queen Kielmath has been overtaken by evil. You must persuade her to join your side as she plays a vital role in the game.

You control all 10 characters, each of which have separate abilities, ranging from magical to healing powers. Some, like the dwarfs, work well with their hands, others, like the woodmen, have a great affinity to all living and growing things.

There are three main characters - Avarath, chief wizard; Mithulin, King of one kingdom and Kielmath, Queen of the other. The game ends if the energy levels of any of those three run down. Happily, that is restored by eating the berries off a magical bush which grows in some profusion. It does not matter if one or two of the remaining characters die, although without them your quest will be harder to complete.

The game comprises vast panoramic views - rather like Lords of Midnight - with bright colours and detailed graphics. There are 2,816 screens and over 11,000 views.

You can travel only to the east or west but not north to reach the forests, buildings and mountains in the background. Mikro-Gen has come up with a neat solution. If you want to travel forwards, revolve the scenery by facing another direction. That brings the place you want to investigate on an easterly or westerly line.

The graphics are marvellous - and should be even better once the game is completed. We saw a pre-production copy which was impressive, although some final touches had to be added. There are battle sequences, spells to cast and objects with magical properties to pick up as you venture deeper into the land. The characters inter-react with each other and, unlike the Wally games, while you are controlling one, the others remain static - they do not wander off to do their own thing behind the scenes.

Shadow of the Unicorn should keep you occupied for hours as there is so much to do and see. It costs £14.95 and is the first game to use the Mikro-Plus - Mikro-Gen's little black box of tricks which increases the Spectrum memory to 64K. An illustrated book provides the background, and a number of clues lie within those pages.

Clare Edgeley

HELP POPEYE save Olive! Olive Oyl stands at her window waiting for her man to bring her hearts. Meanwhile the massive frame of Bluto thunders across the screen as he lies in wait for Popeye.

The essence of Popeye is to find all the hearts and return them to Olive before her lovemeter runs out. He must also collect spinach cans, keys and an assortment of objects to aid him during his journey.

Spinach is the only way to revive Popeye following a blow from Bluto, vultures, witches on broomsticks and so on. Keys are needed to gain access to the chambers and rooms where more objects and obstacles lie.

To reach the various objects Popeye can jump, climb up and down ropes and hitch lifts. Be bold and adventurous and you will be rewarded with even more locations to explore.

At first the game is tedious. Popeye is so slow in response to your commands that he is mowed down even as he is recovering from a blow. Once you have adjusted to the slightly slow reactions and cracked the correct sequence to avoid Bluto, you can really start getting into the game.

The graphics are excellent and very large. Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto are all perfect reproductions of the famous cartoon characters.

THE HOLIDAYS are over, and the summer? - well that never began. But why not spend your autumn evenings learning the skill of yachting made easy with Yacht Race.

Even Simon Le Bon could handle this one and he does not need to have insurance either. Impress your friends with your knowledge, and make up stories about sailing stormy seas and how you almost won the Americas Cup last year.

Carefully planned levels allow you to build up your skills step by step. In the first three levels you learn the basic skills of steering, trimming the sails and balance. Having mastered those you can pit your knowledge against the computer boat. Finally you compete against Black Streak, where the pedalo mob is weeded out from the true sailors.

The main screen can be toggled to a map which plots out the water, showing your present position and the dangers - buoys and sand banks which surround you. You never actually see your yacht - only the bows - but if you change direction or lose balance you will enjoy a simulated drowning!

Yacht Race is great fun and gives a real insight into the world of sailing. A booklet is also enclosed, giving tips and clear, easy-to-read, instructions.

FLY WITH the Red Arrows and keep your stomach intact as you perform the amazing Manhattan Loop, the Pyramid Roll and the famous fly past.

The game is a flight simulator with a difference. You are accompanied in the air by your team mates, and you must perform aerobatics to the best of your ability in order to score points.

Don't look so worried. You are not left to your own devices in the air. A training routine has been included within the program which displays your instructions as you make a fly past. Failure to heed instructions usually results in a crash.

The instruction routine does not, however, help with the 16 different key combinations which you need to control your Hawk aircraft. Out of desperation I just used the thrust and roll keys which seem to achieve good scores, and only the occasional crash.

Graphics may not be the game's strong point but the simulation is accurate to the degree of seeing the aircraft of your team mates fly past.

The flight instruction and aid does not end with the instruction routine.

Your team leader will give you instructions if you are going off course. The amount of instruction given to you during flights may seem unrealistic, but open communication must be available between pilots so that wing tips do not touch and you don't drive your aircraft into the ground. Your team mates will look after your safety just as you watch theirs.

Red Arrows turns the dull area of flight simulation into fast and furious fun. Database Software has also arranged a competition in which you could win a weekend to visit the real Red Arrows.

GREMLIN GRAPHICS is not a company noted for its adventures.

Tinderbox is a fairy tale, in which you play the part of Tom, a common foot-soldier, who has to defeat the wicked witch and evil king to gain the hand of the fair Rowella.

As an adventure, it's a disgrace. It is written entirely in Basic, and contains large numbers of boring locations where little or nothing happens.

The computer does not understand even a simple, standard adventure command such as Look. As Tom happily wades through a lake without so much as getting his feet wet, he may well ponder his bad luck in not signing up as a mercenary with Pete Austin or Brian Howarth.

The B side of the cassette contains a long fairy story printed up screen by screen. It is the story of Tom, the common foot, and you've guessed the rest already.

All profits go to the Soft-Aid appeal for Ethiopia. It's very fine of Gremlin Graphics to do that, but they might have chosen a halfway decent program to flog for charity. If you care about Ethiopia - and you should - then send a fiver to Bob Geldof. There's no point bothering with Tinderbox - it lights nobody's fire.

UTTERING a bloodcurdling ki-ai, the black-robed ninja hurled his muscled body against the evil sensei of Mel-Bon ryu. A series of percussive kites was countered by the feared 'attack of the astral Ho-Bits'.

Reeling from the force, the ninja leaped instantly into the air and brought his calloused feet, like twin axes, down on his opponent's joystick. In a wail of agony the sensei, Spectrum, Ferguson 12" and all went down in a mess of black wires, crushed cartilage and broken Quickshot II.

Melbourne House has gotten all bloodthirsty for its latest, a simulation of karate which offers 16 different moves and an extremely tough series of opponents.

Everything is joystick controlled, and you'll find a stick essential for any chance of success. The moves allowed are split into two sets. The normal eight joystick positions translate into movement backwards and forwards, two punches, crouching, jumping and somersaults, forward and back.

With the fire button held down, the eight positions become more aggressive. Three kicks, high, low and mid, form the basic arsenal, with a spectacular flying kick thrown in. You can also sweep from the crouching position forwards and back, or produce the well-known roundhouse kick, which involves spinning round and catching the enemy on the jaw with the back of the heel. There's also a straight back-kick.

The key to the game's addictive playability is the intelligent way those actions are planned, so that once you are familiar with the controls, the movements are logical and instinctive.

Graphics are pleasing too. The animation of the two fighters is near perfect, with a satisfying crunch as foot connects with bone. It's sufficiently sophisticated for you to be able to hit your opponent while he's in mid-execution of a move, allowing for feinting tactics. Virtually all the moves can be aborted halfway through and turned into something else; in short, the variety of strategy possible is remarkable for an apparently simple arcade game.

The backdrop of each round is suitably Japanese in flavour. A short, balding instructor looks on as you fight under the cherry blossom, or across the tatami mats.

You start as a novice and must win two rounds to progress to first Dan, and so through to tenth. The first round is relatively easy, and provides good practice, but life gets tougher, and you need all your cunning to survive for long at higher levels. Each round is scored, and has a time limit. You must get two full points to win, symbolized by yin-yang circles on the screen. To score a full point you need to be perfect in your attack.

As a sports simulation, this is one of the finest and most realistic we have seen. As an arcade game, it's addictive and pacy. As a product, it's clearly destined for the top.

TALOS stomps across the pleasant pastures of rural England to recover the Crown of Eternity, and restore balance to nature or some such nonsense. All the little furry squirrels and chirpy grasshoppers are going bananas, and the old battle robot is the last chance of stopping the rot.

Trouble is, Talos has been dismembered and lies scattered in seven pieces. You start with just the great metal hand, and must find the other bits to reassemble yourself before finally getting the crown.

The screen shows fields surrounded by fences, and the occasional stretch of road - there are over 200 such screens, fairly spacious, in which the rabid creatures appear. Your main problem is running out of energy, which can be restored by collecting coins, candles, and parts of your body.

You get a magnet which you can drop and which activates the compass, bottom right of the screen. It is a useful marker if you find part of your body but, alas, not one which will link up with what you have already.

Talos is a highly competent maze game, though not exactly original. The monsters are not much of a problem, and you can usually ignore them if you move swiftly enough. More important and difficult is the business of finding all the various bits and pieces. Some only appear after others have been found.

What is fun is the way the robot changes each time a new part is added. It provides a good incentive to find the next piece, and we expect you will be clamouring for infinite lives POKEs before very long.