@3By: Gremlin  Year: 1987  Price: £7.99  Memory: 48K/128K @1

Hero Matt Trakker is jetting  about  in  space  in his car Thunderhawk
looking for his mates and trying to find and blow away the VENOM base.
  It's all done in plan-view in four scrolling landscapes.
The first one's called Boulder Hill and it's very yellow.
  At first you've no idea what's  going  on.  Stand still for a second
and you'll get blasted  before  you  can  say  shaboinggg! by loads of
tanks which rumble into the screen.
  To avoid having your bits blown off first time out, you have to work
out what's going on - which means reading the lengthy instructions.
  Collecting things has to be done in order or you won't get anywhere.
Firstly, find and pick up a scanner, by driving over it.
Then, collect six pieces of a scanner security key in the same method.
Then switch to the assembly  screen,  and  then  put the pieces of key
together to form a letter. Then you  can activate a scanner and locate
the first of your missing agents. The  idea  is to get the agent, find
his mask and then when you've got both agents and both masks, bomb the
VENOM base and you're home and dry.
  I must admit that I didn't like @3MASK@1 at first.
The graphics are  strictly  monochrome,  and  @5Gremlin@1 is gleefully
employing the same 'momentum' movement  that  was  used in @6The Final
Matrix@1 which means you move about like you're on ice.
  Things whizz about pretty quickly, and  while you're still trying to
get yourself together, something bombs  the  hell  out of you and it's
back to square one. So I was getting pretty impatient.
Then suddenly I'd found my first agent and I was hooked...
  One of the good things about @3Mask@1  is that it's big, but not too
big to handle.  There  are  four  main  locations,  Boulder Hill, Pre-
Historic, Far-Future and the VENOM base itself.
Each contains a variety  of  different  things  to  dodge and destroy,
including  freight   trains,   pterydactyls,   erupting   snakes   and
exceedingly unpleasant giant spiders.  What  with  the scanners, keys,
repair kits and agents to pick up and collect, life is never dull when
driving Matt Trakker's Thunderhawk.
  There's something for everyone in @3Mask@1.  It's one of those games
that employs elements of shooties,  thinkies,  arcadies - you name it,
it's there. And far  from  being  overly  complicated, it's all really
accessible and highly addictive.
  By far the  hardest part  is  assembling  the security key, which is
what really lifts @3Mask@1 out of the ordinary.
  The only blackish  mark  on  @Mask@1's  character  is  I'm sure some
people will quickly get bored with  being unable to assemble that key,
and may decide @3Mask@1 is just too complex to bother with.
  Hopefully though, there  aren't  too  many  who'll  think  like that
because,  if  @3Mask@1  is  one   thing,  it's  definitely  well  worth
persevering with.
@4
 Rating: 9/10  Reviewer:@5 Tamara Howard @1
 Diagnosis: Jam-packed with puzzles to solve and enemies to destroy.
            Needs patience, perseverance, and more than a little luck!

                        #3HINTS AND TIPS  @1

Use your bombs carefully.
There's no point in dropping  them  near  tanks and suchlike - they'll
only move away and you'll have wasted time (not to mention a bomb).
Instead blow up solid objects so  that  you  can explore more parts of
the landscape.
Pick up the six pieces of the security key before you even think about
trying to assemble it. Then try  each  bit  against each other one. It
doesn't take long because the computer  won't  let you put two pieces
together that don't fit.
Keep your eyes peeled. Bits of security  keys, the odd scanner, even a
mask might be hidden somewhere  you  wouldn't  think of, and you can't
afford to miss anything.
Get up those rocks and look around a bit.
Remember where the repair kits are. Each  kit will repair two units of
damage, and you can't  pick  up  a  kit  unless  you've sustained that
amount of damage.
Keep repairing Thunderhawk regularly, and you'll be alright.

 @2              Software Ratings
 @1              ================
 @4        1/10  Avoid this game under all circumstances.
           2/10  Poor and/or massively overpriced.
           3/10  Dull and uninteresting, if not actually awful.
           4/10  Fairly average. Nothing to get excited about.
           5/10  OK but nothing special.
           6/10  Not bad, some good points.
           7/10  Pretty good. Worth a look.
           8/10  Good stuff.
           9/10  Very good indeed.
          10/10  Brilliant.
        Classic  The best program of its type.