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This US Gold offering looks rather similar in layout to Ulysses, which we've already seen in this column and which I did not, frankly, get much satisfaction from. Sierra On-Line seem to have a hand in dull graphics and small vocabularies, and I'm afraid Mission Asteroid falls very much into this category.

However, I can't be too rude about it because I couldn't play much of it. I'd already failed to load one copy of this game, and Hey Presto, this version crashed after a couple of minutes. The malfunction took the form of retaining the graphics and all the input routines, but simply corrupting the text display so that I couldn't read anything.

That said, is the fact that I still managed to move around a compliment, an insult to the game's complexity, or of no significance? I can certainly tell you that the vocabulary is rather small and the pictures are rather dull. Apart from the basic storyline, however, I must remain silent. All I can tell you is that you must prevent an asteroid from blasting into Earth with catastrophic effects by shooting off in your space craft and zapping it with whatever you can find that will do the trick.

As plots go, it sounds quite good. Unfortunately as the text goes, it went. Perhaps US Gold will send me yet another copy, and in the meantime if you think you can handle lack-lustre graphics, a small vocabulary, and good ol' American two-word input, then give it a crack.