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Alien 8 is the second of the new generation of Ultimate graphical adventures which use the superb 3D graphics that were pioneered in Knight Lore.

As in Knight Lore, the game consists of a labyrinth of rooms and corridors viewed from a top corner of the room. However, these rooms have honeycombed walls and an exasperating collection of obstacles to block your path.

Most obstacles consist of a formation of blocks and deadly spikes. You can quite simply jump on to the blocks, but some have slippery surfaces and others disintegrate at your touch, leaving you to fall to your death.

Consequently, most players will find simply getting from one room to another a sufficient challenge. If getting across the rooms wasn't enough trouble, you have a mission to complete. For you, an Alien and Cybot, are responsible for the safety of the spaceship.

The spaceship was built by the Guardians just before their planet was destroyed and contains the last of their cryogenically preserved race. The ship's long journey is almost complete but your problems are only just beginning. Among your many tasks you must reactivate the damaged cryogenic units while defending the ship from alien infiltration.

The ship also contains a number of indestructible robotroids which range from the undescribable to the unbelievable. My particular favourites are the clockwork nice and the dalek pigs. These shouldn't be regarded as allies as they destroy everything that they touch, including Alien 8 cybots. This fate is only slightly worse than reprogramming which awaits all cybots that fail to complete their tasks by the time the ship reaches the planet. The passing of this time is represented by a count of the light years left to the planet.

When this time runs out or you use all of your five cybot lives, you are graded on your performance. If this assessment is unfavourable then you are reprogrammed which consists of being hit several times by a hammer, boxing glove and walking stick.

This is yet another Ultimate game that should be part of every Spectrum owner's collection.