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Battlezone meets Mercenary in this sequel to Ariolasoft's biggest hit to date, Skyfox. Don't expect the fast action of either game though. Artic Fox is much more of a strategic game despite the odd bit of zapping you get involved with.

You find yourself in charge of Artic Fox - an armoured and beweaponed polar terrain attack vehicle. Your mission is to wipe out the alien infestation within the artic circle.

Apparently these aliens have set up atmospheric reprocessing plants which are turning the atmosphere into something they like to breathe - but is deadly to humans. They've established a fortress behind a forcefield - but you have miraculously beamed through the field in your Articfox alien-buster and have to set about finding the alien HQ in order to - you guessed it! - blow the thing to smithereens.

It isn't easy. The aliens have loads of tanks - heavy and light - aircraft, rocket launchers, floating mines - the list goes on. Artic Fox is armed with rockets and shells and mines - but the supply is, of course, limited.

Your instrumentation includes a neat rear view screen, a scrolling map, and various other bits and pieces which come in useful as your play the game but when you first start you won't be bothered with!

Shells behave normally when you fire them. Rockets can be guided by joystick to the target which adds another dimension to the game.

There are several levels to play at. Training, Beginners and, the real test, Tournament. Training is like a briefing session for the mission in which you get used to controlling Artic Fox.

Prior to this you can call up a review of the enemy forces ranged against you - pictures complete with a text description.

The screen display is a mix of Battlezone vector graphics and solids. The ground/sky are solid - but enemy tanks/installations/hills are drawnin vector style. You can actually drive your Artic Fox up and over some hills - and fog descends when you reach higher ground!

It's a good idea to check out the hills as you may find a radar station or rocket emplacement on top of it.

Watch out for the enemy jets - they bomb you mercilessly. Use the radar map to check out your progress and to get early warning of enemy attacks from the air and on the ground... and watch out for crevasses. These are just about the only thing Artic Fox can't cope with.

If you find yourself under sustained attack you can always "dig in". That means hiding in a hole in the snow, stupid! But there's no guarantee the alien attackers will go away...

At the end of each session, you get a status report on your mission. It tells you what you destroyed, how much ammo you used doing it and a percentage success rating.

Initially, I found Artic Fox very slow. But it's one of those games that creeps up and grabs you without you noticing. I found myself sneaking back to the Commodore for just one more crack at those aliens. I found it more playable that Skyfox in fact.

Sound is extremely limited. Just whooshes and explosions, but this doesn't detract from the overall atmosphere.

Don't expect fast and furious action. But do expect to enjoy playing the game!