GENERAL CUSTARD, famous for his last stand against the Indians left behind him a son, The Custard Kid, not so famous for his rather sticky end while hunting for 12 custard recipes.

At least the Kid is not yellow, he will fight to the bitter end to turn vile, lumpy custard monsters to trembling, yet delectable mounds of jelly. For how else is he to keep up his strength? The Kid must eat.

Guide him through a vast maze of rooms and corridors, collecting colour coded keys which allow access to rooms, search treasure chests for custard detectors, more keys, bags of money and spoons.

'You're nicked mate', mouths the guard while escorting you to the dungeons. Those are full of creepy crawlies and a variety of objects which block your path to the exits.

The game is probably one of the most inexpensive games to make use of icons. Once an object has been picked up it is stored in the Kid's pocket - a grid to the right of the screen. To access any of those, use the fire button to place them in the Inhand position. The system is simple to use.

The Custard Kid is similar in many respects to a large number of other games - all Atic Atac style - lots of rooms to explore, nasties to avoid or kill and objects to collect. However, it has a complex playing area, it is inexpensive and best of all, up to four people can play together.

COMMODE lovers thought it was great, apparently, but we weren't so sure - on the lovable old C64 you get brilliant music. That's not possible with the Spectrum.

Nevertheless, Impossible Mission holds up as a good game even without the frills. You play a secret agent sent to investigate the plots of mad scientist Elvin, who is holding the world to nuclear ransom. You must somersault through the levels of his hideaway, collecting pieces of the secret code.

Strategy is important. Codes are gained by searching the various objects - bookcases, terminals, safes and the like - in the complex, but getting at those objects is more difficult. It's easy enough to get most of them, but you'll have to organise your use of the lifts to dodge the robots which patrol the complex.

There are also rooms with puzzles in them. You'll have to work out what the puzzle is before you solve it.

What makes Impossible Mission particularly addictive is that it produces a completely new map each time you play, the rooms linked to central lift shafts are assembled in a different order for the new game. That means you can't use the same techniques over and over again to win.

Add to that the slick graphics of the sort you expect from US Gold, nice animation with the somersaulting agent, and good use of what little sound is available, and you have a fine entertainment.

TAKING CARTOON characters from the television and using them for software isn't always successful, but two games by Macmillan Software work quite well.

Both are programmed by Widgit, by now veterans in this field. Orm and Cheep - The Birthday Party is a younger style Phineas Fogg. There are no words to read and it is essentially a maze game.

Cheep has to overcome certain problems before bringing all his friends to Orm's birthday party, but first he must find his friends. Mole is the most difficult to find.

Elementary maps can certainly help. Decisions are easily made by pressing a key when a signpost flashes.

Narrow Squeaks is a collection of four games, mainly concerned with logic puzzles. The graphics are good and I particularly liked Rat's Game where you have to move each of the animals out of a hollow tree trunk.

Both games appeal to the 4-7 age group and a useful addition to the family library.

FEW REMEMBER mankind's great achievement, a series of 30 planets constructed to protect their creators. They are called Sentinels and keep the balance of power in the galaxy.

Those planets have grown into conscious entities and have acquired a taste for power. Mankind has become too dependent on them and they must be destroyed.

First you must locate one on your sector map and then warp through hyperspace to go into orbit around it. The planet beneath the ship is shown in 3D at the centre of the main display. It rotates in a downward direction in relation to your ship.

Once you have arrived you can launch a shuttle which descends to the planet surface, ready to take on the alien fauna. You must shoot everything except the trees.

The alien hunt on the planet is the weakest part of the game. In the first phase a downward scrolling movement is used to bring the aliens onto the screen. They are sitting targets.

XCEL depends heavily on graphics and not much else. The game is yet another version of Star Trek, Space Invaders and Centipede rolled into one. If you like turbo-charged graphics and hybrid plots the game will appeal to you. If, however, you are a battle-hardened hack you will find better shoot 'em ups on the market. Try Glass for one!

THE LIFE of a store detective is not always fun, especially when you have to pamper to the whims of a psychotic store boss who is hooked on warning notices, bring him cups of tea and look after your reputation as a super sleuth.

Play starts on the street outside the store. You must decide how to keep the boss happy for a day without getting the sack. You will be given three warning letters before that unhappy event occurs.

Your first job should be to map the store. Although you have been there for years you have had a sudden attack of pernicious amnesia.

Getting tea for his nibs is easier said than done. First you have to find it, crashing though hundreds of customers who are not averse to calling you a clumsy oaf. Then take the tea to the top floor where Sir - a talking head in a swivel chair - will give you a mouthful of abuse, courtesy of the scrolling message window.

On your way up you will find objects which will be of help in your store patrol. Those include a wooden box, a skateboard, a gun, a hammer and a cage. The use of some of those is obvious but you will have to work hard to discover the use of others.

As well as giving the boss his tea you are contracted to shoot ducks on the ground floor, kill bugs - not in the program - and extinguish fires. All those tasks are overseen by the boss who will literally give you the boot if you are slow. So, get on your skateboard and start moving. The day finishes at 5.30pm and there are still hours of hectic floor walking ahead of you.

Grumpy Gumphrey, Supersleuth, with its novel plot, is a welcome change from Monty Mole. The graphics are better than the Mole games - not so much screen flicker - and the plot is complex. Most of the characters within the store have some semblance of intelligence and often reveal that they have more upstairs than Grumpy.

Show your boss that you can bring some sanity to this computerised version of a Saturday morning at Marks and Sparks. You will find it a difficult but rewarding job.

TOP TORY ministers were last night revealed in a leaks-for-favours scandal which seems set to shake the very core of Mrs Thatcher's Government.

Chronical reporter Big Ben claims that while in pursuit of a major scoop he discovered senior cabinet ministers flickering through the sprite-ridden corridors of power, prepared to accept gifts in return for portions of his story.

Ben, tired and emotional after his ordeal, described the interior of the Palace of Westminster as "a crazy world of levels and ladders. Some of the rooms are extremely difficult to negotiate, others a simple matter. And there's the most awful music coming from somewhere, it drives me potty."

New revelations include allowing the public to redesign the Houses of Parliament, positioning walkways and stairs where it wants.

When asked to respond to criticism of the colour clashes involved in the new decoration scheme, the Prime Minister replied: "Of course we care about the quality of the graphics. Of course we do. But There Is No Alternative. Why don't you moaning minnies talk about the good points of the game, such as ... (cont page 94).

FIRE RAZES London to the ground. As the blaze sweeps through the city, firemen, demolition workers and gunpowder gangs work round the clock to check the flames. They have four days to complete the job.

Work is hindered by the wind, which keeps veering, driving the flames even further through the city. The only hope now is to contain the fire by demolishing buildings and dousing others with water to create fire breaks.

The mayor is still on the scene, organising the work teams and guiding them to new areas of danger. The water pumps need to be refilled from the Thames and the firemen are running back and forth like yo-yos. The demolition gangs are working to rule and keep downing tools for their tea breaks - especially when the going gets tough.

The mayor has enjoyed himself so much that when the fire of London has been put out he will start another, creating a new map with different street names and layout. You are given two options - whether you want the wind to keep changing direction and the time it takes the fire to spread, making the game more of a challenge.

The Great Fire of London is the first offering from the newly resurrected Rabbit Software under the Virgin label.

IMAGINE'S seemingly endless trek through the backlist of Konami's coinop games has finally reached the basketball court.

First impressions of World Series Basketball weren't great - small featureless players chasing an equally small ball round a scrolling court. But those were instantly revised once play started - it's a hard game to beat. No matter that you have only four players, the opposing team has the same.

Play starts on the centre line when the ball is tossed into the air. The computer team must have been practising with the Harlem Globetrotters, expertly catching and passing the ball, shooting and tackling with skill. It's hard enough keeping up with them, let alone trying to take the ball away.

Basketball is played according to the rules and the game is as accurate as possible on the Spectrum. Watch out for time penalties. If you hang onto the ball for too long it will be given to the other side. Tackling is difficult, retaining the ball harder still and it takes a while to be able to judge distances and angles when passing. Half time takes place after three minutes when the teams swap ends.

The player handling the ball takes on a different colour from his team mates for recognition purposes. However, that can be confusing, especially with the attribute clash as the colour leaks onto any other players in proximity.

It is also possible to lose your player. If the opposing team takes the ball down to their end of the court, only that half of the court is shown on the screen. If you are not quick enough you will be left behind - literally out of the picture. While you are trying to locate your player the opposing team are scoring several goals. You just can't win.

SOCCER fans who fork out for this package get three things for their money. Firstly, there's a booklet about soccer and the world cup.

There are also two programs, one on each side of the cassette. The first is a database of facts about the world cup. A menu allows you to choose a country, or a particular series, and examine the fortunes of the teams.

That program also contains a quiz option with three levels of difficulty. You can play on your own or against a friend, and your score depends on how quickly you answer the questions. The quiz is fun - easy to begin with but quite tough at the top level.

The second side is more interesting - a game called World Cup Manager. You must select your team from a squad of players, with percentage ratings for strength, stamina and skill. Once that's out of the way, the match starts. The first half is boring.

The second half of the game is played as a couple of arcade minigames. Depending on your success in these two games, you may be awarded further goals - or concede them, to the opposition.

There is simply not enough variety and challenge to make the game really exciting, and a world cup game with no excitement is a bit like Miami Vice with no designer jeans.

RUGBY, or Ruggah as it is known on the muddy fields of England, is not the ideal sport to simulate on a computer. It's confused enough in real life, without having to contend with pixels and attribute clashes.

International Rugby allows you to play a friend or the computer in the Five Nations series, of which the Triple Crown forms a part.

Unfortunately, the players flicker continuously, the controls are sluggish and it's difficult to maintain the flow when the player being controlled changes all the time - you always seem to be running away from the ball. Although Rugby is very much a team game, requiring the setting up of elaborate passing movements to outflank opposition, Artic's version demands the reverse - if you get the ball, your best chance of scoring is to run for the line, dodging as much as you can.

Passing appears most erratic, although hours of practice may improve what precision the program provides. But you're unlikely to want to stay with it that long; the flickering figures are a strain on the eyes, the players themselves seem to be wearing long kilts, and often just stand still with the ball waiting to be tackled - or so it seems.

There may be a few boneheaded enthusiasts out there who'll want the only rugby simulation in town, but we fear sales are likely to be as limited as the appeal of this poorly designed offering.