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Already a classic arcade game, a revamped Asteroids with colour, guess what the CPC version of Blasteroids looks like? Correct: not a lot of colour!

The idea is simple. Choose your skill level, and face screens of alien nasties and asteroids, which you have to reduce to space dust with your trusty laser. After all the screens are clear of debris, you are then whisked away by a huge teleporter into hyperspace: from here you choose the next sector to clear, and also what's in it. Once the sectors are cleaned up, you face Mukor, the bog standard 'end of level guardian' that must be destroyed in order to go on to the next difficulty level.

A nice feature is that two people can play simultaneously - loadsafun! Controlling a spaceship is very easy: you have the standard rotate left and right, fire and thrust key (gives you a shove forwards). The non-standard feature is the transformer which flips the ship between three different sizes. The smaller the ship, the more agile it is, but the larger the ship, the more firepower it can bring to bear. Adroit control is vital to success, and the difficulty level is just right for improvement.

Hitting asteroids or aliens (or having them shoot you) decreases your energy - zero energy equals death. Gems can be mined from certain asteroids to give you more energy.

Sometimes aliens drop extra equipment for you: firepower, shields, fuel cells (let you store more energy) and more range. Problem is, other aliens coming onto the screen can pick these up too!

Deceptively easy, Blasteroids is a good (if plain looking) shoot-'em-up that's like the arcade but different.

Looks flashy - though it could do with splashier colour - and two years ago it would've knocked your socks off. But it's a well-worn formula, and I think Pat's over estimated its Staying Power.

Complete the easy level.

Just as fun.

Graphics 62%
P. Well animated...
N. ...but colour is scarce.

Sonics 57%
P. Nice spooky title tune.
P. Game effects are good too.

Grab Factor 71%
P. Very hard to put down.
N. Winning is very hard.

Staying Power 65%
P. Even easy is challenging.
N. Once mastered, interest will wane.

Overall 68%
P. Good for an involved blast!