Bored? Don't feel like venturing outside? Fear not, Advance bring you three indoor sports to beat those rainy day blues - giving you a choice of Ten-Pin Bowling, Darts or that old fairground favourite, Air Hockey.

Game choice and the number of players to compete are selected from a main options screen. On loading the required section, you are presented with another list of options, from which many aspects of the relevant game can be altered according to choice.

In Ten-Pin Bowling, you begin with a side profile of your bowler at the start of the lane. Moving the joystick positions the bowler, and holding the fire button down highlights an arrow which continously move across the lane. This marker determines the direction of the ball: on releasing the fire button, the marker stops moving and the bowler then begins has walk up.

As he completes this action, another press of the button releases the ball. Shoot too soon and the bowler hits his ankle, sending the ball trundling into the gutter - too late, and he ends up sprawling on the land, while the ball takes the gutter route once again.

As the ball heads for the pins, the screen changes to a first-person view of the lane, showing the consequent pin-fall. The score is then displayed above the alley, next to a picutre of the bowler's face as he displays an expression suitable to the outcome.

Both players have two attempts to clear the pins, over ten frames, and the scoreboard is updated in the correct manner, with strikes and spares recorded in the usual fashion.

The Darts simulation is slightly more complex, as all aspects of the arrow's flight are covered. The screen shows a central dartboard, with score and other relevent details displayed around this.

A dart appears at the bottom of the screen and is moved to the appropriate position below the baord. Pressing the fire button stops the cursor and an anglemeter begins to fill, corresponding the the arc of the flight. Once this is selected, the power-meter begins to change colour, and as before, the required power is selected by a click of the fire button.

The view switches to an over-the-shoulder viewpoint of your player as he throws, set in a suitable pub surrounding. The screen then reverts to a close-up of the board, showing the dart's final position and the updated score. This is repeated twice more and then the next player takes his turn.

Finally, you are treated to a blast from the past with a two-player simulation of air hockey, a table-top version of that all-action ice sport.

A forced perspective end view of the table is given showing the puck and the two joystick-controlled 'hitters'. The aim is to get the puck into your opponent's goal as many times as possible within the time limit. The puck moves rapidly around the table in perspective and the speed of the hitters may be speeded up by holding down the fire button.

Any goals scored are displayed by a row of lights along the end of the table corresponding to the player.

I prefer Mastertronic's budget darts game to this awkward method of arrow throwing. When all the correct settings enabling you to throw a 60 have been discovered all that needs to be done each time is to make sure the settings are the same. Then there are the joys of ten-pin bowling - like the darts, this is badly implemented and confusing to play.

Finally, there's the more promising Air Hockey which is in truth not a bad game - it's fast, uncomplicated and initially addictive, but after a few games it all tends to wear off.

The timing required for the final release of the ball is too precise and on many occasions it ends up in the gutter, while your bowler leaps about clutching his leg. The darts section is really dire - it's far too slow and unnecessarily complex, taking ages to actually finish a game. It's a shame that this is only as good as its weakest link, as you could have had a lot of game for your nine quid.

The bowling module fails along those lines too - controlling the man is really tricky, and there's no feeling of realism. The only good module is the air hockey, but even that has limited appeal. If you're after a sports simulation, look up the Epyx series - they're streets ahead in every department.