United States Air Force, published by Jane's Combat Simulations for PC

SPECS: Pentium 266, 32MB RAM, 550MB hard drive space, 6xCD-ROM drive, 4MB graphics card.

Behind the glitzy action-movie opening titles and rock-guitar soundtrack there's a seriously realistic flight simulator beneath this testosterone-charged air combat title.

Although there are many impressive battle campaigns to be fought - including skirmishes over Vietnam and Iraq - I found the instructor-led training programme the most entertaining.

You actually feel this could be solid preparation for your first flying lesson, as the gravel-voiced military tutor takes you through taxiing, take-off, landing and air-to-air combat situations.

With real practice locations like Nellis Airport near Las Vegas, you're soon piloting a variety of fighters over realistic sky-scraper landscapes.

An array of complicated controls and visual aids makes the quick-reference card included very useful, it also ensures you won't be firing scuds at the Vegas Hilton by mistake.

With a dazzling level of detail which even includes a pilot career tracking feature, the most satisfying element of USAF is the smooth-flowing graphics and very responsive controls.

Graphics 4/5

Sound 3/5

Gameplay 5/5

Gamespan 5/5

Overall 4/5

PHIL CHAPMAN

The Longest Journey, published by Empire for PC-CDROM

SPECS:, Pentium 200, 32 MB RAM, 4MB graphics card, 200MB Free Disk Space, 4x CD-ROM

The Longest Journey is an epic adventure game which throws a seemingly normal life into the realms of disbelief, mixing amazing graphics and sounds with puzzles that range from the simple to the extremely impossible brain-busters.

The style of the game is very similar to Blade Runner, except it is played as a novel, separated into chapters.

The game outstrips Blade Runner in every department, ranging from the size of the game to the intriguing storyline that has you wondering who to trust, and what effect one wrong move earlier on will have in the latter parts of the game.

A couple of very slight gripes. Some of the puzzles are bordering on the impossible, and can sometimes take hours to figure out, yet others are too easy.

Graphics 4/5

Sound 5/5

Gameplay 4/5

Gamespan 5/5

Overall 5/5

MATTHEW SPARNENN