Macadam Bumper

Well, flip me, what a bumper treat for pinball and programming wizards. This is the pinball game in excelsis! But not only that, this game has the facility to let you design your own pin ball table. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with the programmed one. And if you come up with a beaut then PSS will build it and give it to you. If you don't win their competition it'll still provide you with endless permutations

As a pinball wizard in my youth the PSS game had much to prove to me. I was not, however, disappointed and quickly notched up a score of 59,660 - not to be sniffed at. The only thing missing is the dull thud and clack as the steel ball is bounced between wood, plastic and metal.

Unfortunately, I found the designer very cumbersome: selecting and moving everything via cursors, it takes ages to create a decent table. As for the 'action' it's mindnumbingly boring with a total lack of any exciting special features; almost as bad as the pathetic, Spectrum-emulating graphics and beepy sound. Players must have totally flipped to bother releasing such a load of old… pins.