THE holocaust has come, laying waste to vast tracts of once beautiful countryside. Out of the devastation emerges a breed of survivors, barbaric in their thirst for power and dominance. To survive even a day is hell.

You must compete in the most horrifying carnival of motor destruction ever conceived. No, it's not the Stoke Poges by-pass on a wet Monday morning but Motor Massacre from Gremlin, the latest addition to the "car is an extension of a man's joystick" school of games.

Cause of the problem is the evil Dr A. Noid, creator of the vile and mind-bending food substitute Slu. Now everyone is trapped in the cities, unable to break free form the grip of Slu addiction. Killer cars cruise the streets, strung-out zombie mutants mutants roam abandoned buildings searching for a healthy victim to contaminate - you know the sort of thing.

Your mission is to seek and destroy the mad doctor, and you're going to have to fight your way through three cities to find him. You must locate the supplies that will help you survive. Money doesn't mean a thing, food does - but first you've got to find it. You cruise at the controls of your Armoured Tactical Vehicle (ATV) through city streets filled with hazards such as oil slicks, gun turrets, land mines and enemy cars intent on ramming you, searching for the entrance to one of the derelict buildings.

Inside you find the food you need to trade for fuel, weapons, ammo and repairs to your battered ATV. But take care, the buildings are full of slimy mutants. They're slow and easy to blast but there are a lot of them and if one touches you your health level drops. If it drops too far...

Before you can leave the city you must find a pass to the arena. There you must take part in a demolition derby. Your ATV converts into a Ram-Car. This is smaller and more manoeuvrable than your opponents. No guns are allowed in this contest - the only way to destroy your enemy is to ram him often enough and smash him to bits Land mines, flipping floor tiles and the bottomless pit that surrounds the arena all add to the fun.

Once you reach the second city it all becomes much tougher. You have to shoot the cars more than once to destroy them, the mutants are harder to kill and the battle in the arena needs all your skill. IT gets worse for your final battle with the mad doctor when you reach the third city.

Computer games are becoming ever more complex. This can result in a game that is thought-provoking needing both strategy and subtlety for success. Motor Massacre is about as subtle as a brick in the ear. There is nothing new about the gameplay nor about the obstacles to be overcome, there are just a lot more of them than you'll find in most other games of this type.

A save facility is available so that a lot of hard work need not be lost in one moment of madness and the increasing levels of difficulty are well paced. This is a game that will hold your attention and keep you entertained for some time. And that has got to represent good value for money.