Cashing in on the current political frenzy, Infogrames has released General Election for the PC.

The game boasts it can deliver all the excitement of election night and the chance to play the role of a political party vying for power.

General Election is a simple cross between Monopoly and political Trivial Pursuit.

Up to six people can play at one time or the computer can fill the roles of opponents in single-player mode.

Players move around a board passing squares showing campaign fees to be paid, press conferences to be handled and debates to be won.

The country is divided into 61 regions and the aim is to win the constituencies up for grabs in each region. Seats can be won by a combination of random luck (landing on the right square) or by correctly answering multiple-choice trivia questions, (such as which advertising agency was behind the Tory's election campaigns in the Eighties?).

Play is slow and repetitive. Computer opponents' moves do not reveal trivia questions - the game just deems the go a success or failure, which is dull. Even when all 659 seats have been won and the country has been changed into a colourful patchwork reflect-ing the result there is a sense of anticlimax.

All that is left to do is start the ponderous process again. Better to wait for Peter Snow to get the swing-o-meter out.

Price: £14.99.

Contact: www.infogrames. com
Feel good factor: 2 out of 10.