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Having entered into orbit round the planet Dander you are woken from hypersleep. You are a member of the AMC (Astro Marine Corps, armed with a heavy duty assault rifle, and are about to be dropped onto the planet to tight the diabolical Deathbringers.

The Deathbringers are a gang of interplanetary pirates who wreak havoc wherever they land. The game splits into two sections. The first has you yomping up hill and down dale in search of the Deathbringers' ship and is played in a left to right horizontally scroll with plenty of deathbringing creatures after your hide. An Astro Marine support ship will occasionally drop supply cannisters to you, containing grenades, energy, shields and extra lives.

Once the end of level creature called Krauer is overcome, and you've gained secret access to the pirate ship, it's onto load two which takes you to the Deathbringers' planet. Your free passage to their hideout is not popular, and bloody battle ensues. This time your target is the Great Alien King, a huge pseudo-robot who breathes fire, and tough to kill.

The most impressive part of AMC is the scrolling: multi directional movement is incorporated, giving a great feel of reality. It's a pity the colourful, but splodgy sprites aren't in the same league. The game is quite playable, the challenge is tough, but not frustratingly so. I just wish that as much attention had bean payed to the looks as to the technical wizardry.

MARK ... 71%

'Simply brilliant. That's the only way to describe Astro Marine Corps. I haven't enjoyed playing a game so much for ages. There is just so much going on, you wouldn't think you were playing on a Spectrum. AMC comes in two parts, each as mind blowingly playable as the last. The graphics in both are out of this world. Large, animated sprites fill every corner of the game, packed full of colour without any clash at all - a masterpiece of programming skill. Amazing, but there's more: full colour, animated backgrounds, oodles of sound effects and a toe tapping tune. Collecting the capsules that drop from the sky as you run along can have a variety of results. Some give you super weapons that kill everything in sight, but others release even worse nasties to nibble at your feet! AMC is one game that I will be playing for some time. Go on, be a devil and buy a copy - you won't be disappointed.'