This is quite a close copy of the arcade Krazy Kong and includes barrels, fireballs, conveyor belts and lifts. The

barrels drop through the platforms randomly as well as descending the ladders on top of you. The man is well animated and

jumps very generously (which doesn't mean it's easy)! I didn't like the key positions - all on the top row, There is a

time limit for a bonus and water buckets for bonuses. Nice loading screen which matches the cassette inlay. Four screens

in this version with well combined hazards.
CP

P.S.S's version, which has only just come out, is very like the arcade original. Your man is well animated and walks

smoothly on his way to rescue the girl. All the characters are a bit small but nothing to complain about, and the man

jumps very well. The game is colourful, tuneful and very playable - second to Ocean's Kong in fact. All the keys are well

positioned - could be used with Sinclair Interface 2 but not stated anywhere (Kempston compatible). Ocean's version comes

out with flying colours, closely followed by this one.
MU

FAST ACTION IN ARCADE FAVOURITES

Krazy Kong and Frogger are two original arcade games which PSS has converted to the 16K Spectrum. The name of the latter game has been changed to Hopper.

In Krazy Kong you have to get up a tower of scaffolding, using a series of ladders, to save Jane from King Kong, avoiding fireballs, barrels, pies, lifts and flans.

If that is not difficult enough the authors have made it almost impossible to get a good control of the movement keys, as they are so close together. You may also have difficulty starting the game, as the control keys are in the top left-hand corner of the keyboard and the start key is at the bottom right.

Hopper is not much easier, although the control keys are all in a better position for play. The difficulty is in the speed of movement which can make you take several jumps at a time.

All the usual elements are there, including turtles, crocodiles, a train and some fast cars on the highway but they make the screen overcrowded and it is difficult to follow the path of your frog. That does not make the game unusable but it would be suited to those with knowledge of Frogger who can cope with fast play or many options - is not the beginner.

Both games can he obtained from PSS, 452 Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry, CV6 5DG. Cost: £5.95 each.

LOOKING FOR TOP OF THE KONGS

If you are after a Kong game for your Christmas stocking you've got a pretty bewildering choice on your hands.

We managed to acquire four Spectrum versions though there must be at least that many again lurking in the small adds columns of the computer mags.

The most disappointing thing about Spectrum Kong, which all the versions we tested have in common, is that Mario has been reduced to a stick man. This detracts from the cuteness of the game - which was a major reason for its success in the arcades.

First up on screen was Blaby's Killer Kong with a deluge of barrels which were very difficult to hop over. This game also has the unfortunate distinction of having the oddest Mario. The little Italian must have had too much vino as he wobbles along in the most ungainly fashion with his feet pointing inwards.

If Blaby's Killer Kong was a bit too difficult then PSS's Krazy Kong is guilty of being too easy. I hopped my way onto the third screen on my first go - which was satisfying but not very challenging.

Neither Blaby's or PSS's game managed to capture the feel of playing the arcade game and some silly frills like an RIP tombstone which appears in PSS's game every time Mario gets splatted didn't add anything.

If software houses insist on ripping off ideas from the arcades then they may as well at least try to do accurate copies.

But if these two versions were average at least they were not as bad as C Tech's Krazy Kong which took about half an hour to load, was nothing like Donkey Kong, and had more bugs than a mangy old moggy. Happily there is one reasonably good version available in the shape of Kong from Ocean.

The game is fairly close to the arcade game, strikes just about the right balance in difficulty, and has some useful extras. Most useful of these is a training mode which enables you to choose which screen you want to start on and avoid having to go through screens one or two to get to the level which you have not yet mastered.

So if you are getting a Kong for your Spectrum - and lets face it the game is as obligatory to your collection as a maze game and a shoot 'em up - then Oceans Kong is C&VG's choice, Kong can be purchased in most high street software outlets at £5.95.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
JOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional
CATEGORY: Arcade
SUPPLIER: PPS
PRICE: £5.95

King Kong is alive and well and living in at least two versions of Donkey Kong for the Spectrum. Always one with a taste for a certain sort of woman, Kong has trapped one called lane and it's your mission to topple him and rescue her.

Jane herself doesn't help much, standing at the top of each of three screens waiting for you to cover the obstacle courses which begin at the bottom.

The first screen is one involving ladders connecting girders. Red barrels roll out and drop from one level to the next when they feel like it, and can be avoided (if they're coming your way) by jumping.

This is done with the fire button on the Kempston. The same goes for similarly lethal fireballs.

If you make it to Jane, there's a second screen involving conveyor belts with pies on them. The pies are probably well past the date stamp, and are also deadly.

The third and final screen involves lifts, tricky to catch and likely to make you fall, but if it's completed, it's Kong who takes the tumble.

With three lives, it's not impossible to complete the game and still win a time bonus, and it's fun trying. Obstacle courses are interesting, but games such as Manic Miner offer far more screens and ideas.

Krazy Kong does have irritating aspects - the incessant playing of the funeral march every time a life is lost, for example, or the difficulty in positioning your man at the right spot beneath a ladder to climb it.

WHO'S KING OF THE KONGS?

Our intrepid reviewer, Peter Connor, braves fireballls, deadly custard pies and vertigo to answer the burning question.

Are you a man or a mouse? An enormous hairy gorilla has just stolen your sweet little girlfriend. Can you sit there and let this monstrous ape kick sand in your face? Or will you flex your puny little muscles, grit your teeth and go off to the rescue?

If you have no stomach for the job then there's not much point playing any of the many Kong games now available, because this is a game that takes guts. The diminutive hero must pit his wit and agility against the brute force of his simian adversary; it's brain against brawn as you try to get beauty from the beast.

LOVESICK GORILLA

The original inspiration for the Kong game was, of course, the film 'King Kong' in which blonde startlet Fay Wray was abducted by the lovesick gorilla. Kong followed her to New York and sought refuge at the top of the Empire State Building where his downfall was eventually brought about by the rather primitive US Airforce.

When, 50 years later, Kong arrived as a game in the arcades the Empire State became a load of old girders. The girders though are arranged on several different screens, thus providing a variety of dangers for the player to negotiate before sending Kong to his doom and providing himself worthy of the girl.

BARRELS AND FIREBALLS

These obstacles vary slightly from game to game but they are essentially the same. First of all Kong rolls barrels down a series of inclined girders up which the hero is trying to climb.

To avoid them the hero is gifted with enormous jumping ability and one of the main points in any version is how well your man leaps. Is he smooth? How far can he go? Can he jump backwards?

These are just a few of the questions that the dedicated Kong'er will ask himself before even considering whether a game is worth buying.

Other hazards to be found on this first level, especially dangerous when trying to climb the ladders linking the girders, are fireballs; these are more troublesome than barrels as they have a habit of following you. Handy in this case are the hammers often hanging around with which you can quickly 'bonk' an enemy or two.

On the second level the player is usually confronted with the problem of conveyor belts which move him in the direction of a vat of boiling oil. In some versions, though, this location is a pie factory with lethal custard tarts and a vat of what is presumably boiling custard.

Further on, the problem is how to get to the top of a series of unconnected girders. The only way up is to jump on lifts as they move up and down. Needless to say, there are always nasty creatures pursuing you.

HAPPY ENDING?

On the fourth, and usually final, level the hero has to rush around an arrangement of girders knocking out the pegs which support them. If he succeeds, Kong tumbles to his death and he gets the girl for evermore. What happens then is not really our business here.

For the home micro the nearest version to the arcade is Donkey Kong for the Atari. You might expect this, but even so it is a remarkably good game. The graphics have a clarity that is worthy of the arcade, with impressive colour and sharpness. Kong himself is a mean-looking redhead who beats his chest in frantic anger. The girl who is the cause of all the trouble seems well worth fighting over in her pigtails and blue dress.

Your hero, Mario the carpenter, is also a very accomplished figure. In fact, he is one of the most manoeuvrable figures in computer games. His running and jumping are a joy to behold, and he will even, given a little nifty joystick work, jump backwards. In Kong this sort of thing counts for a lot: it's no good buying a game where your man can't even jump over a barrel.

SMART APE

The sound too in this version is pleasing with jaunty tunes and good sound effects. All the features of the arcade game are there in splendid graphics. At the top level the ape even summons up enough brainpower to switch the dame from side to side, making your task just that little bit more difficult.

However, not everybody has an Atari and not everybody who does is willing to fork out a small fortune for the software. But owners of other micros need not despair: there's no shortage of Kongs for the leading micros.

For the Spectrum there are at least three versions available. Ocean's Kong has long been a best-seller and it's by no means a bad version.

The graphics are clear with strong bright purples, yellows and blues. Your man himself is quite cute as is his kidnapped girlfriend, but Kong, unfortunately, looks more like a golliwog than a fearsome gorilla.

All the necessary obstacles are there. On level one the barrels come raining down pretty quickly but since your man is a good jumper it's not too difficult to overcome them.

Level two is a bit puzzling. Are those things on the conveyor belts meant to be fireballs? Or are they perhaps pies? Vats of flaming oil possibly? I'm sure I don't know what they are.

The last two levels hold no surprises except that the girl seems to disappear from time to time making you wonder why you're going through this hell.

But it's gratifying all the same when you knock out the last pin and send the ape for the Kong Goodbye.

Blaby's Killer Kong is of a similar standard. The graphics are very clear and colourful in red, green, and yellow. The rather unattractive girl is exactly half green and half yellow. The little hero is, poor thing, slightly bow-legged but despite his handicap he's a game jumper.

Kong stands at the top, glowering with his hand on his hips like an angry mother-in-law. When you get to the top of the first screen you get a big kiss from the girl and two pretty hearts appear.

A curious innovation in this version is the replacement of the hammers (bonking, for the use of) by bonus hamburgers. They must be a strange flavour since they're a shade of green I've never seen at MacDonalds.

The most impressive feature of this game though is its sound, which is much better than in any other Spectrum Kong.

CONVINCING

Krazy Kong, from P.S.S., starts off very well: the title page displays a disgustingly convincing picture of a slavering gorilla. This can lead to a certain amount of disappointment when the game has loaded, since the real Kong is a rudimentary figure with no such frightening detail.

Your man is not too impressive either; although he jumps well enough he doesn't look as if he gives a damn about rescuing the girl. On the other hand, Jane - for that is her name - is not half bad and seems worth the trouble.

The game, though, does have some engaging features. When a barrel drops on your head and you meet your Maker a gravestone appears on which is inscribed R.I.P.

The game starts quite slowly but gets much faster as your man moves through the levels and the pies, conveyor belts and lifts. On the whole the graphics are well up to scratch.

TOO FAST

Calisto's Wally Kong, also for the Spectrum, was unfortunately christened: Wally by name, Wally by nature. The graphics in this game are not bad and Wally himself is an engaging enough fellow even if he does seem to have his hands tied behind his back and to be doing deep knee-bends. The problem is that the game is far too fast: it took me a long, long time to reach level two and then, when I finally made it, the program went and crashed on me.

The less popular micros aren't Kong-less either although there's not as much choice as for the Spectrum. Microdeal's Donkey King, for the Dragon 32, is an enjoyable version: as the blurb says, it's 'barrels of fun'.

You have a very nice little man trying to save a very nice little girl. The gorilla is big and blue and gleefully rolls out the barrels. The graphics, in fact, are good throughout this game, but it's the sound which is especially fine with a rollicking organ background.

All the usual obstacles are there as well as the usual bonus objects, such as the young lady's handbag. A nice detail is the flashing 'L' which warns you when your bonking time on the hammer is about to run out. A drawback is the Dragon joystick; since it's not self-centring it's very difficult to keep control of your man.

Even Oric owners can play the game, or one game at least: Severn Software's Dinky Kong. But they should only buy it if they're absolutely desperate to monkey around with a Kong - there's no joystick option and you're forced to use the dreaded Oric cursor keys.

Unless the hemispheres of your brain are opposite to the normal position you will find it very frustrating. There's also a terribly long gap between pressing the space bar and your man jumping.

The graphics don't make up for the unresponsive controls. The barrels are empty circles and the big K himself is just the merest outline. Furthermore, when you stay awake long enough to get to the top of the first screen you find out you have to go through it all over again. I'd rather spend an hour in the ape-house at London Zoo than play this game again.

SMOOTH ACTION

As far as I know there's only one version available for the BBC: fortunately it's excellent. Program Power's Killer Gorilla features the best graphics, except for the Atari, of any micro.

The colours are very bright and the action is really smooth. The homicidal ape is a virulent shade of bright red, while your girl is a pretty little Goldilocks. Sound, too, is very good although it can become annoyingly repetitive if you don't quickly make progress.

There is the conventional order of screens; once you have done for Kong on the highest level you start all over again but at a much faster speed. There are few more satisfying barrel-bonks in the business than Killer Gorilla.

Ape fanciers with a Commodore 64 are faced with rather more choice; the quality, though, doesn't match the quantity.

For instance, the most striking point about Anirog's Kong is the size of your man's nose; it's an enormous wobbling proboscis which rather distracts your attention from more important issues.

Another curious feature is that instead of a hammer for bonking you're given a mallet, as if you wanted to invite your old churn Kong out for a game of croquet.

On the other hand, level one does have some good grinning fireballs which leap out of their can to grab you. Your man, though isn't easy to control, sometimes behaving very erratically at crucial moments.

MOVING

Kongo Kong, from Mogul, also has rather unsophisticated graphics, hut they are at least very clear. Your smart man emerges from a little pink house and is very easy to control. When he gets to the top of a screen a heart appears and a love theme from Tchaikovsky is played. It's very moving.

This version is quite slow on level one but does get much quicker. On later screens there are some original features such as hostile birds and magic keys. Overall it's a pleasant version, scoring well for playability.

Supersoft's Crazy Kong is very disappointing. The graphics look like something for the first colour ZX81 and the sound is little better, consisting of a repeated Laurel and Hardy tune. The girl is an unappetizing creature with ratty pigtails and Kong is no more attractive; they seem a good match. If I were Mario I'd let her go.

THE VERDICT

So which Kong is King? There are reasonable versions available for most micros but few outstanding ones. Despite the choice for Spectrum and Commodore 64 owners no single game is clearly superior. Atari's game has obvious advantages but when you consider the price of Atari software enthusiasm might wane. The choice then falls on Program Power's Killer Gorilla for the BBC which stands out for the quality of its graphics and its smooth playability; this Kong's certainly no donkey.