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This is one of the best of the blast-everything-in-sight games I have seen for a long time.

What makes the game so remarkable is the quality of the graphics - the most colourful and interesting I have ever come across for the Spectrum.

The story is fairly easy to understand: you are trying to kill 20 of the enemy aliens before your buggy is totally disabled. You have two types of weapon - twin Photon lasers which you control with the keys or the powerful Xion Phaser which we used to call smart bombs in the days gone by. There is a large store of photons for you to use but you've only got IO Xion Phasers for the entire mission, so don't waste them.

The 3D trench along which you are travelling is reminiscent of Star Wars, but there are a whole range of different types of enemy to combat. Some emerge from side doors, some hover in front of you and some are orbiting above the planet. You are warned of the approach of the orbs as they can be deadly and finish the game if they hit you just once.

The best graphics are shown when you are docked and ready to take off again. The use of colour and flashing is excellent. Sound is used fairly well too and the controls are responsive. The instructions are excellent with plenty of details, but the greatest omission is the joystick option.

J.B.