From Masque Publishing comes a collection of games for the Mac that should help get anyone who is new to the fast paced and exciting world of personal computing up to speed. Ranging from the classic F/A-18 Hornet Classic through to some cool simulated pinball games the selections should also help you decide which of the current crop you should pick up next time you go shopping.

As far as we were concerned the main thing we were looking to do was to see how the sound effects and general level of audio quality compared to games that are currently available, and it wasn't long before it became apparent that not much has changed in the last few years.

The first title we checked out, which also had a simple tune running through it, was the ever popular Glider Pro, a MacWorld Game Hall of Famer, which also features a wide selection of various sound effects that can be heard as the little paper aeroplane moves through the various rooms in a house with an extremely powerful underfloor heating system.

The tune, which can get kind of annoying after a while, can be muted by using the plane to turn off a radio or by changing the settings before the game begins. Other titles with accompanying music are the two pinball games which have fun rock style tunes complete with electric guitar sounds. Not bad actually, and as with real pinball machines they feature all the SFX you could ever want. Highly addictive so watch out

Obviously if you're looking for a full on soundtrack to accompany your gaming experience you should be looking to games like Riven which devote a few megabytes of CD space to the accompanying audio track and SFX.

Highlights of 9 Big Ones include F/A-18 Hornet and A-10 Attack (which is my personal favourite). Don't expect any kind of soundtrack other than the sound of your engines, but do expect lots of SFX including explosions, instrumentation effects and various other goodies which are surprisingly well defined.

Just for laughs you might want to eject the pilot before taking off in your A-10 and hear the "Ow" as he hits the ground or an "Ooph" if you eject over water. You should also check out the fully functioning demos and try out A-10 Cuba.

Other titles include Marathon, the classic shoot-em up that is accompanied by a brooding soundtrack which can be heard in between the massive explosion sounds that you'll be responsible for from time to time. Warcraft, a real-time strategy game which, although slighly less violent than the other shoot-em up in the set Pathways Into Darkness, is also packed with various audio goodies.

Finally there's an arcade space game called Pegleg which is very difficult to play (because I'm terrible at these things) and features some of the strangest ripping sounds, bells and whistles I've ever heard accompany such a game.

Excellent value which makes the perfect choice for someone new to desktop gaming. It includes all the necessary passwords and full instructions for every game.

9 Big Ones retails for around US$30 and is available directly from Masque Publishing.

Rating - 650,974 (out of a possible 1,000,000)

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