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Eric the space delivery man is in a bit of a fix, last week he spilt some scalding hot tea over his box and although the gaffer seemed to take it quite well at the time, Eric now finds himself given some very nasty jobs to carry out. And nastiest of all, Eric been told that next is a supply job on the planet Eriban, a near hollow ball packed with all number of dangerous things. Eric hops in his rig and, after a quick break in Greasy Joe's Vegan Cafe, arrives at Eriban to find that the inhabitants have gone on holiday leaving the automatic defence systems on. Eric realises that it'd be more than his job's worth to go back to the boss with his task unfinished and with a wife plus six kids to support. So with severe flak pouring out of the anti-invada(tm) zip guns, Eric steels himself to distribute various goods throughout Eriban.

There are five crates of cargo to deliver, each to be picked up from the planet's surface and then taken to their respective delivery places within the planet. Guiding the space lorry in ye olde traditional left, right, up and down manner, Eric's rig sits plonk dead centre of the screen while Eriban scrolls about him. The first thing to look out for is everything, touch with even the smallest pixel of rock, bullet, or any kind of object causes the lorry to explode into sparkling fragments. The only places that can be touched are the landing pads on the cargo dispensers and the depots in the planet, everything else is deadly. There are even robots that home in on Eric's ship so it's lucky that he equipped his truck with a handy-dandy blastmotron gun (kills 99% of all known droids).

Once all the goods are delivered, not an easy job at all, then Eric can nip home for a cup of Bovril, but till then it's fun, fun, fun as he has to avoid death being dealt from near infinite portals.

I didn't enjoy playing this game in the slightest, and it left me cold. That is, until I set fire to it. Seriously, though, Caverns of Eriban is not the sort of game I would recommend to anyone, even Alex Winton.

What a horrid game, why Firebird sent us a review copy I'll never know. It's a blast from the past that really should have stayed there, and if you see it on a software shelf I advise you to let it stay there. Even at the El Cheapo end of Firebird's product range, Caverns of Eriban presents lousy value for money. Just keep away from Caverns because I doubt you'll like what you find there.

Presentation 43%
Nothing to impress.

Graphics 32%
The caverns wobble as you trundle about and on the whole the graphics are bland and uninspiring.

Sound 68%
A version of Jupiter from Holst's planet suite prattles along, but spot effects are weak.

Hookability 24%
Once you see what a mammoth task is ahead...

Lastability 22%
...you won't want to play it again. Now if it were anything like good it might be different.

Value For Money 30%
Cheap, but not cheap enough.

Overall 25%
Caverns of Eriban? We wish it would go and get lost there.