WHILE the decision to launch Amiga games for under a fiver is laudable, the question is: Do you really want to play a game on the Amiga that a software house considers is a budget title?

A spokesperson for Virgin Mastertronic assures me that the company could indeed make money with only a £4.99 price tag. This only works if the overheads are as low as possible. Low overheads mean very cheap and shoddy packaging and as little time as possible spent knocking up the program.

I imagine the profit margin on Kelly X will be hitting the maximum because the packaging is indeed cheap and nasty. The program, which looks like it took all of two weeks to write, is equally cheap and nasty.

Kelly X - which, by the by was the pre-release name for Xenon, - is a 3D space battle. Fly through space using your Elite-style radar with 10 range settings, shooting government ships and canisters of toxic waste. Aw, an ecologically sound game as well. Avoid being shot since it depletes your shield. Use hyperspace to get out of tricky situations. And that's the game.

Kelly X would be pretty damn boring if it worked to perfection. Since it doesn't, it makes it one of the worst pieces of software I've seen. Complete tat. Not worth keeping even if someone gave it to you.