Although many games are designed for one or two-player options, only a few really cry out for a human opponent. Capture the Flag is one of these. It's not that there's anything wrong with the solitaire game - only that the computer refuses to laugh or scream at those points during game play that a human would.

Capture the Flag is truly a maze game. There are no pills and no ghosts, only the maze, one prize (the flag), two doors and two characters - the Invader and the Defender. The object is to go through the maze to one of the doors and capture the flag. Easy, right? That depends on which screen the gamer uses.

There are two main screens in Capture the Flag and each uses a different play mechanic. The lower screen, an overview of the labyrinth, uses Compass Movement - the fire button is depressed at all times and movement is in one of four directions (oh, yes, in the beginning the screen is blank and the maze becomes visible only if the player has traversed that area or "seen" it). The upper screen (actually a split-screen, one for each player) is a 3-D, first-person view of the maze. It uses Walking Movement. In this mode, the fire button isn't used. Although there are six types of movement, only two of them enable the character to walk; the other four are used for turning left or right.

By far, the upper screen is the more difficult to navigate through. It is also the preferred screen for the two-player option. To make sure neither player feels tempted to gaze at the lower screen, the map can be switched off by hitting the SELECT button.

Gamers are very likely to crack up with laughter during this option. What generally happens is the gamer walks into a dead end and then can't find his way out. Meanwhile, the music which gets louder with the close proximity of the opposing player begins to get more frenetic, and so the gamer slams into even more walls.

There's no need to look around any corners to see that Sirius' Capture the Flag is a winner.