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The surface of Cholo is desolate. The devastation is the result of nuclear war. The smouldering landscape is lifeless; no trees, no greenery, just robots. The robots are there to protect the people hiding from the fallout in underground bunkers. But are they doing more than that?

Deep below the surface in the bunkers, life goes on. Just. The daily highlight is the report from topside. After a while, you're down in the bunkers too, you become suspicious about these unchanging reports but carry on playing a popular computer game called RAT. The game involves guiding robots around a shattered city. A city similar to those on the surface. Then it dawns on you... you're in contact with the surface!

Quickly you realise what's been happening. The robots and computers that were designed to protect the bunkers have turned renegade and are planning to trap humanity underground. Forever. It's your job to find a way to stop the robot rebellion and break open the bunkers' seal.

The robot you have contacted is known as Rizzo the Rat and is a general purpose robot armed with an ion cannon. Once the game is loaded, a vector graphic image of Rizzo, a rotating pyramid, fills the screen. Activating him reveals a room in the central computer building that now fills the vector graphic view screen that dominates the screen display. Below this are four empty RAM packs that are used to store vital programs and text files that you can get by logging onto various computers and robots. To the right of this is a compass radiation meter (radiation even damages robots), a damage indicator, a map of Cholo and a message area.

By joystick movements you can move Rizzo around the complex, finding your way by spotting distinguishing objects such as overhead lights, doors and columns. Eventually, you find a Cyber I computer you can log onto. You can download a file called PasslTxt which, on examination, reveals a list of twelve passwords that will become vital to your programs in the game.

Although Rozzo can move and fire his cannon, he has little chance of completing the game alone so you must set about getting him some reinforcements. Outside the computer centre is the first contender, a hacker robot. A few laser blasts stun the robot while you log onto it and, as long as you enter the right password - you get three attempts - he's yours from then on.

Your new recruit is, in fact, Igor the Hacker, who, although unarmed, has a crucial role to play as he's a computer expert. To prove his expertise he gets an extra program out of the Cyber I computer Radarprg - the new program that plots everything in your immediate surroundings - can be copied into one of Rizzo's RAM packs. He can now set off to find more recruits for you.

The next contender is likely to be Anneke the Flying Eye, but since she can fly, and you can't, she's harder to track down. If you track her for long enough, while avoiding contact with the guards that patrol the city in formidable numbers, then you'll get your chance to paralyse, log on and then recruit her. You now have a flying spy who can help you map out the city from a height and track down other recruits for Rizzo to convert...

As the game proceeds, you may get the chance to recruit Gort the Leadcoat, heavily armed, no frills battle robot; Dr John the AutoDoc, a repair robot who can speed up robots' natural recovery; Ridley the Vidbot Queen and Avia who can provide you with ship and airplane transport.

The vector graphic world of Cholo is packed with buildings to explore - Igor the Hacker is best for indoor work - including a power station, mine, robot factory, pirates' cove, harbour, golf course and an evil citadel which is the headquarters of the renegade robots.

You will find guards patrolling in the city in packs of four. They may or may not attack you straight away, but definitely will if you fire at them. Once in a fight, you'd better make every shot count as they can soon rip through Rizzo's meagre armour-plating. Guards you can fight, and may even defeat, but the ultimate threat are the Grundons whose tank-like qualities mean you have a slim chance of getting away from them.

However, you'd better run anyway otherwise you'll be gunned down by their ion cannons. Don't even think about fighting them as you won't live long enough to get a fraction of the hits in you'll need to destroy just one. You can't convert them either.

One of the hardest places to breach is a bridge that splits Cholo into each and west, and is guarded by a quartet of trigger-happy guards. It's probably best to scout out the area then attack with Gort and Rizzo or, perhaps, use Avaia and Queen to bypass the trouble.

How you use the robots is up to you and will decide your success in a game that will keep you glued to your terminal for weeks. The game is very addictive. You actually feel you are controlling the robots. The compulsiveness of the game has a lot to do with a 43-page scene setting novella and instruction booklet that accompanies the game, along with a map of pre-holocaust Cholo.

Cholo isn't cheap, but it is good value for money and, along with Druid and Sentinel, forms a hatrick of hits for Firebird.