Producer: Bug Byte
Retail Price: £2.99

Arena is quite an old game, once generously packaged in a videostyle box with a glossy rulebook and now reissued in more modest garb at a budget price: the book has been reduced to a folded sheet. The game, however, is exactly the same.

The strategy game with the tacked-on arcade sequence is well known to wargamers. It's tempting to describe Arena as an arcade game with a tacked-on strategy section, but that wouldn't be doing justice to the fairly careful integration of styles - the static screens and the shooting-at-things screens.

The original rulebook says 'the arcade sequence is not designed as a glossy diversion which is irrelevant to the outcome of the game', and it's perfectly true. Arena is actually an easygoing version of that milestone in computer gaming history, Battlezone or 3D Tank Duel or whatever else it called itself in its several guises.

This is the scenario. It is 2027. By the second half of the 20th century, man had abandoned all that dangerous and expensive warfare in favour of the medieval concept of trial by single combat. Each nation has a champion, and any dispute between countries is resolved by a duel in the Battle Arena. These duels have turned into major mass-media events, and the champions are held in popular esteem.

The English champion was killed last month in a duel against Wales, fought over the excess use of Welsh water by the English Midlands' megacities. And, for some reason not fully explored, you are the idiot who has volunteered to replace him. But before you can be allowed to defend King (presumably, by 2027) and country against French milk-importers and the like, you must prove your prowess in the Arena.

Upon this reasonably improbable scenario is hung a game which involves killing six enemy tanks with six tanks of your own; the Arena is a large area of landscape and road, much more extensive than the size of the screen display, in which the six-tank battle is fought.

At the start of the game, the player is given the choice of the tournament or the challenge version. The Challenge Game is described as a practice mode, and consists of a single bout of combat with a single batch of six tanks; if you eliminate the enemy's tanks in this mode, you've won and the game ends.

The Tournament Game, which is the 'real' game, puts Arena very firmly in the arcade camp. It's highly characteristic of arcade games that you simply can't win them, ever defeat one wave and you're moved onto a slightly higher level. Such a philosophy gives little of that essential quality 'game incentive' (though others obviously don't miss it - the eternally incompletable Space Invaders was mildly popular), and a lot of the later, more sophisticated arcade games hold out a distant but definite prospect of winning in the end.

Arena is supposed to be about trial by single combat, and the open-endedness of its major mode makes nonsense of that. You should, if only after a lengthy and arduous series of combat rounds, be able to vanquish the enemy and retire from the ring with a wooden battle tank or at least a large cheque. But as it is, you are the only one of the combatants who can be defeated.

Another aspect doesn't make sense: you have simultaneous control of six tanks, though you can only give orders to one at a time. I don't believe the Champion is supposed to leap out of one tank, dash across the battlefield, and take charge of the next. And yet you can't be controlling the tanks remotely, because the previous Champion was killed in combat... perhaps it's unfair to be too literal about these things.

Having chosen the type of game, the player can then select one of four models of tank. The tanks are defined by three characteristics: speed, armour and gun calibre. Each type has a special feature, too. Light tanks are fast, but are only lightly armoured and have a low gun calibre. Their major advantage is their mine-planting capability, and the enemy don't hesitate to plant mines if they're using light tanks - though in my experience they're also adept at running over them and blowing themselves up.

Heavy tanks are well-armoured and can do a lot of damage but move very slowly. Stealth tanks have moderate armour, speed and guns, but can't be detected by the enemy's radar and so can pop up unexpectedly. Hover tanks are very fast and can sail over usually obstructive features like rivers, and have light armour and a heavy gun.

Each model has a slightly different shape onscreen, which is clearly illustrated in the rules, so you can tell what to look out for.

Unfortunately, though you can choose which type of tank you want you can't intermingle the tank types. This would give a greater variety of strategies. In the short Challenge Game you can choose the enemy's tank types as well, but in the Tournament Game the opponents make up their own mind or spring a different model on you with every wave.

The player starts with his six tanks lined up in a neat row at one edge of the Arena - to get things going they have to be moved out into combat. One tank can be selected at a time, and movement orders given to it. This is effected via the inevitable icons, which seems to make a simple process convoluted; first you have to select the tank, then the movement icon, then the type of movement you want - cross-country or sticking to the road - and only then may you use a cursor on the Arena screen itself to indicate the tank's destination.

If you choose road movement, the tank will trundle round the track very obediently. Ammunition stores are located by the roadside and enemy tanks tend to stick to the beaten track; they also lay their mines there.

You can give all the tanks movement orders like this, though there's little point in trying to keep track of all six at once. The game comes to an abrupt end if your master tank is destroyed, so it's wise to keep this one out of combat.

The object of Arena is of course to destroy the enemy's tanks. I found that the least energetic and most convenient way to do this was to sit a tank on the road quite close to an ammunition store, and wait for the enemy to come to me. The only problem is there's a time limit of a thousand seconds for each wave.

Whatever you do, you'll soon spot an enemy tank gliding towards yours. If the tanks are scattered all over the screen then the first you know about it may be a scrolling message informing you that tank 3 is under attack. Tank 3 will be destroyed undefended unless you deal with it - your tanks can't fire back on their own initiative - so it's imperative to select it as quickly as you can and move on to the battle screen.

It is on this central screen that Arena comes out of the closet and proves itself a rather gentle Battlezone.

Quicksilva's Battlezone, reviewed in CRASH Issue 11, was an arcade game first, and found its way to the rubber keyboard as one of the first animated wireframe 3-D games. In it you trundle around a surrealist landscape in agonizing slow motion, surrounded by odd purposeless items of scenery, till you encounter another tank creeping along the ground; then, pushing through treacle, you centre him in your sights and with infinite slowness dispatch a small box which makes its leisurely way toward the target and perhaps causes it to explode carefully and gradually.

It is one of the slowest games ever, and it was successful enough to spawn clones which copied it unashamedly. In Arena we have this classic reproduced in loving detail. It isn't quite as slow as the original, but it certainly isn't lightning-fast. We even have the blank surroundings interrupted by the occasional deformed-looking tree.

The sequence isn't very difficult, either. Two or three shells even from a light tank finish off the opponent before he has time to turn round and fire at you. The danger lies in getting caught between several tanks, and firing at your own if you have two in the same vicinity.

The screen display has the polished and pleasant assurance of an arcade game. A large window depicts a small portion of the Arena, well-drawn, with terrain features (which don't play a very significant role) clearly identifiable. There are four different maps which come up randomly, and the essential ammunition dumps are on different places in the road circuit of each.

The circuit is shown in miniature beside the map, and the known positions of tanks appear as small radar dots. Arranged decoratively around the main screen are icons for operating the game and a display which shows how many rounds of ammunition the currently-selected tank has left.

The presentation of Arena is attractive and pleasant, and though there's not much depth to the game, as a structured version of Battlezone it is reasonably entertaining.

Lothlorien
£9.99

Most strategy wargames feel as though they're written by and for those armchair generals who can reel off the names and addresses of the entire French army at Waterloo. Many a lesser mortal, having spent three weeks reading the rules, only to see his defences salamied by the computer, has wailed, "If only I could do something!" Well, Lothlorien claims to have the answer - Arena.

Take on standard platoon commander type game. But instead of the usual statistical analysis that tells you whether you've turned the enemy tanks into so much scorched scrap, you throw in Battlezone instead. Now you do the fighting so you can wave goodbye to the traditional excuse that you had a lousy luck with the dice.

Great idea, but what about the game? For starters, the strategy map suffer form the same nursery school tanks and landscape that marred Battle Of The Bulge. What's more, the programmers have fallen foul of the latest fad of icon driven commands. Okay, but the idea of icons is to make the game easier to play, not to fill some screen space. And some of the icons will have you frantically leafing through the manual to find which ink blot does what.

Still, when you've got it sussed, this game's great fun. But it just goes to show that smart-alec strategy still can't beat a well-oiled joystick!

Publisher: Lothlorien
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor

Imagine that in the year 2027 the super-powers have not obliterated the planet. Instead they have ventured into space. That expansion has created problems of its own, for the technology of exploration can also be turned into war.

However far into the future you imagine, mankind will always have its aggression, so in the aforementioned year, on February 30 (February 30? I know this is s-f but...) the United Nations pass the historic Alana legislation. This annexed an area of the west coast of Sweden to use as a battle ground - and no unkind remarks about it being the best thing to do with Sweden.

The idea of deciding future conflicts in controlled situations is hardly original, and at the heart of this game is another old chestnut, Battlezone, the tank combat game with 3D line graphics that we once all marvelled at. However, as may be expected from wargame specialists, Lothlorien, this is far from a straight copy of an arcade hit.

You take the role of Champion of England - will the rest of the British Isles but this? - replacing the previous hero who was killed in a clash with Wales over water supplies - obviously some things never change. So you prepare to enter the battle arena, a modern day knight ready to defend your country's honour.

First, though, you must choose your tank and there are four types. Light tanks can shift if they need to, but they lose out on armour; they're also the only tanks to lay mines. If you prefer the security of steel plate then the heavy tank is for you, although you could get stuck against something faster which may locate your weak spots.

Stealth tanks aren't extreme in either speed or security, but have the advantage of not appearing on radar, so they'll need to be in a line of sight before they're detected. Finally, a nippy little go-anywhere number, the hover tank, which isn't well protected but can be the devil to hit. Only the last two categories can cross rivers.

You have command of your own tank plus five slaves and these may be all of a type, or a mixture determined by the computer. Each one has a limited amount of ammunition which may be replenished by returning to base. Only the loss your number one command is fatal, so you need to guard yourself carefully.

So, in the morning mists you climb into your seat and take charge. The initial display has no resemblance to an arcade game but wargamers will immediately recognise the creditably clear map which occupies the main screen window. Somewhere in there you'll see representations of your convoy and the first thing is to get them rolling. You do this by cursor control and instead of being just a trendy gimmick it works perfectly.

Choose your tank, and then the movement icon. The tank is now replaced by a square cursor which you move around the screen to select an objective. Once that is located you press fire, then tell the tank whether to make a bee-line, if it can, or to obey the highway code if on the road. With one tank under way you can then start another. Chances are that by the time you've dispatched the last, your first departure will be flashing red and green to indicate that it's without orders. This colour coding of the row of tanks on the status display is rather pyrotechnic but works well.

Keep an eye on the time because you're only allowed 1,000 seconds to achieve victory - decimating the enemy or getting his command tank - though the clock stops for combat. There's also a smaller scale map of the area, with eight road designs to maintain variety.

A radar icon flashes if one of your tanks encounters the enemy, though it's up to you to discover which one by selecting them in turn. Most important is the message bar which keeps you in touch with what is happening, and it won't be long before you're reading the message that one or other of your slaves has entered combat.

If you thought you had to act fast before, you'll now go into overdrive as you select the tank indicated, then move the cursor to the combat option. Suddenly the map becomes a view screen looking down the gun barrel. To its right you now have radar and below it the movement icon becomes a direction of travel indicator.

You're into the arcade action, and while it's not the most sophisticated Battlezone available the graphics work well enough, although there's a lot of empty space round trees, building's, and other tanks. It's up to you to get the enemy without wasting valuable shells, and if you have other tanks in the area, don't make the mistake of hitting them instead. The accompanying manual suggests a quick tank recognition course first.

Luckily nothing else will attack while you're locked in one-to-one combat. The worst that can happen, unless your command vehicle is involved, is that one of the little tanks will vanish and the view will be replaced by the map. In any case, there's no time to lose with new paths to set and plans to hatch.

Lothlorien has thoughtfully provided a challenge mode, which serves rather nicely for practice, and you'll need it if you're to get the best out of Arena. But despite its complex appearance it doesn't take long to get into, and while purists from either the strategy or the arcade camps are unlikely to go for it, I'm sure the many in between will love it. It certainly gives an old mindless shoot 'em up a kick in the pants by adding a brainy element.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Lothlorien
PRICE: £9.95

The year is 2027. The world has become a very different place. An annexed area of Sweden has been designated a battle area. And, as champion of England, you enter this arena to defend your country's honour.

You command you own tank plus five slaves, each with a limited amount of ammunition. Loss of the tank in this war game, spiced with arcade action, will prove disastrous.

A battle field map occupies, the main screen. The tanks are displayed as cursors which can be moved around. A radar icon flashes if the enemy is encountered.

If you're into shoot outs which need an extra bit of brain input, this could be the one for you.