Following on from the acclaimed BMX Simulator is the first of the Code Masters' Plus range. It offers the player the choice of two skill levels - Normal and Expert - set over three different styles of course: Dirtbiking, Quarry Racing and Desert Racing.

From the title screen, the player has the option to start the present courses or load new ones from a separate cassette. Pressing the space bar cycles through any combination of human/computer opponents, allowing up to four participants (two joystick, two keyboard).

The action is displayed from overhead, an information panel below showing the riders' names, times and laps completed. Races take the form of increasingly hazardous combinations of bumps, burms, and ramps set against a decreasing time limit.

The Expert version accommodates definable tyre and chainwheel sizes, a tougher time limit and rider collision detection. At the end of any race an action replay can be accessed, with a slow motion option.

The graphics are sharply detailed with varied backdrops supporting neat 3D, and the mujsic is appropritely sharp and bouncy. Its faults are those shared with its predecessor: an awkward control method, becoming 'stuck' in the landscape, and one mistake costing you the race.

If you've got the original, you mway find the differences too small for the asking price; if not, then it's well worth a look.

Unfortunately, it has also kept some of the more irratating traits of the earlier game; the one that stands out particularly is that cyclists are always so mixed up after a crash that they turn their bikes in the wrong direction and frequently steer themselves straight back into an obstacle.

At least you can get away with driving through your opponents this time. In spite of these frustration, the package of advanced game and extra tracks represents good value for money - especially to any sets of Commodore-owning quadruplets.